Samsung is reportedly planning to unveil some new augmented reality smart glasses in early 2025.
That is according to the Korean news publication Yonhap News Agency, which believes the AR glasses will be showcased alongside its Samsung Galaxy S25 launch event Galaxy Unpacked.
The South Korean electronics manufacturer, Samsung, has not yet confirmed the plans although, as TechRadar observes, it would fit with its release schedule from previous years.
Lian Jie Su, Principal Analyst at Omdia, explains where AR glasses provider need to focus their attention in order to optimise sales: “Major technology vendors such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta and Qualcomm are looking to bring spatial computing to a range of edge devices, including smartphones, head-mounted displays, AR glasses and robots.
“To drive growth, vendors will need to further improve chipset efficiency, embrace domain-specific generative AI for spatial computing, build vibrant ecosystems, and, most importantly, drive open standards that facilitate seamless interoperability and integration.”
What to Expect
Yonhap News Agency says that unlike the Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality (MR) headset, the apparent Samsung AR smart glasses will adopt a regular shape of glasses, weighing around 50 grams.
It alleges that the device will have payment capabilities, gesture recognition, and facial recognition powered by artificial intelligence.
Samsung Electronics has reportedly been working to develop this product since February last year with the help of Google and Qualcomm.
We do know that Qualcomm announced last month that it is designing AR smart glasses with Samsung and Google that can be powered by your smartphone.
This would lend credence to one leak reported by TechRadar, originating from Wellsen XR Research in China, that the specification will be very similar to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Samsung’s XR design, it believes, will not only be similar in weight and appearance, they will also use the Qualcomm AR 1 chipset, a 12MP camera sensor, and a battery with roughly the same capacity.
Yonhap News Agency also expects the software due to be installed on the AR glasses to be unveiled later this month. Because the XR platform is a software, it considers an operating system (OS) update the most likely form for it to take when it is rolled out.
Following the release of the prototype, the Korean news agency points to the industry’s expectation that the product will be made available during the third quarter of next year.
It also shared rumours that Samsung Electronics will hire more staff to improve leadership and ensure the smooth running of XR businesses during a reshuffle taking place this week, which it claims will pre-empt the emerging XR market and technologies.
Rumours of the Samsung smart glasses have been swirling for some time. Last month, XR Today’s Rebekah Carter investigated the claims, finding that Samsung had confirmed that some sort of XR device will be on its way soon but did not offer many details.
It seems safe to say that Samsung has then got something up its sleeve for us, but it looks like we will have to wait until the Unpacked 2024 event in late January to know exactly what that will entail.
