Cat's out of the bag. Samsung confirmed today (December 12) that a new headset will be released next year and will work with Google's newly announced platform for augmented reality devices.

Codenamed Project Moohan, Samsung's headset was teased during Google's event marking the launch of Android XR. The platform is built on top of Android's foundation to facilitate spatialized versions of apps that take advantage of virtual space.

According to published images, the Samsung headset looks a lot like the Apple Vision Pro. It looks quite similar. Look at what looks like a light shield and the front of the headset, which looks like a ski mask.

Google is offering Android developer tools to app makers in the hopes that they will start developing versions of their software for the new platform.

At this time, there are only teaser images of Project Moohan, and it is unclear when the new headset will be available in 2025. However, Samsung's headset was rumored to be likely to be unveiled at the yet-to-be-announced Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event. Since this year's Galaxy S24 launch is expected to take place in January and the S25 is expected to follow, the full Project Moohan headset could be revealed as early as next month.

Some details have emerged about the headset that Samsung is developing for Android XR with the help of Google. Indeed, Project Moohan is the culmination of an XR device partnership involving Google, Samsung, and chipmaker Qualcomm that was announced at the Galaxy Unpacked event in February 2023.

Qualcomm has confirmed that the headset will work with Snapdragon XR Plus Gen 2 silicon. The chip is also supposed to deliver a 20% and 15% increase in CPU and GPU frequency, respectively, compared to the Snapdragon XR Gen 2 chip driving the Meta Quest 3.

Samsung, for its part, announced when Google announced its new XR platform statement, promising that its headset would offer “state-of-the-art displays, pass-through capabilities, and natural multimodal input.”

We will hear more about what Samsung's headset can do when the company unveils its new product. But the name Project Moohan (Samsung notes that “Moohan” means “infinity” in Korean) gives us a hint about the company's ambitions. Basically, Samsung wants to use the infinite space offered by virtual reality to provide an immersive experience. This includes exploring the world using a spatial computing version of Google Maps, watching sporting events on YouTube, and interacting with Google's AI-powered assistant, Gemini.

Integrating Gemini into the Android XR platform was a major incentive for Google. Samir Samat, Google's president of the Android ecosystem, told reporters at a briefing on Android XR, “The XR experience and integrated digital assistant is a killer app.”

To that end, Google promises an Android XR experience on Samsung headsets that will allow you to fill the space around you with app windows.

Google also talked about the ability to watch YouTube and Google TV on a giant virtual screen, as well as 3D versions of Google Photos images. This is much like the same experience that users of the Apple Vision Pro headset enjoy through the visionOS software, so the arrival of Samsung's headset will provide an opportunity to compare different approaches to spatial computing.

When announcing AndroidXR, Google said that mobile and tablet apps from Google Play will be available right out of the box to help developers build more apps and content specifically for AndroidXR, which is coming in late 2025. He stated that they will work. Google is already working with partners such as Adobe, Calm, and Virtual Desktops to build for Android XR.

Samsung's headset may be the first device built for Android XR, but it won't be the last. According to Qualcomm, companies such as Lynx, Sony, and XREAL are considering developing Android XR devices.

In addition to the headset, Google says the Android XR platform will also support AR glasses, reminding us of the ill-fated Google Glasses project. Google executives now point out that that device was ahead of its time. The vision behind Glasses was right, but the technology at the time was not up to the task, Samat said. The difference this time around is Gemini, the ability to see and understand the world around us through the cameras and audio in AR Glass.

For example, Google showed a video in which a woman wearing AR glasses could look at a menu in Korean and see the words and prices translated into English by Gemini. When the server spoke to her in Korean, a real-time translation of what he said appeared on the glasses, allowing her to place her order and know how much she had to pay.

In another video demonstration, the Gemini Assistant in the glasses summarized text messages from a group chat, displayed menu options at a restaurant, and even provided walking directions that appeared as arrows that expanded into view as she walked down the street.

The announcement of Google's Android XR comes on the heels of an update to Project Astra, in which Google this week spoke of its desire to bring multimodal understanding to devices like smart glasses. Google plans to begin testing prototype glasses soon.

Google is not the only company trying AR glasses. Meta just showed off a prototype of its Orion AR glasses a few months ago, and its latest Snap Spectacles are being refined for commercial release. Google, however, believes that its XR platform will have the upper hand once Gemini comes out with glasses built on top of it.