The Apple Vision Pro could roam and roar for a whole year until Samsung pulls off its own XR headset

A new report from South Korea has it that Samsung’s answer to the Apple Vision Pro could come at the end of 2024, no way earlier than that.

In contrast, according to recent words from Tim Cook the Vision Pro is scheduled to hit the US market “early next year”.

Now, a publication from JoongAng claims that the Samsung Infinite (the codename for the upcoming XR headset) will come in 30,000 units initially (via 9to5Google).

That’s not the first time the Samsung Infinite is mentioned (it’s the first time we got its codename, though). We reported on Samsung’s plans to re-enter the AR/VR/XR business as early as February 2023, when they announced a partnership with Qualcomm and Google for the upcoming XR device.

Samsung has a somewhat bitter experience with the headset business, but, hey – you can’t expect to win them all on the first try, right? In 2015 the Korean giant introduced the Gear VR headset which was powered by the Galaxy Note 4 and its 5.7-inch QHD SuperAMOLED display. Later it was discontinued. Then came a Mixed Reality headset for PCs which also was discontinued by the company.

The Samsung Infinite set was almost presented at the end of this year, but in July (mere weeks after Apple showed off the Vision Pro at the WWDC ‘23) an internal memo claimed that Samsung is delaying its headset.

It’s possible that the Samsung Infinite could have its announcement at an Unpacked event in the “second half of the year,” which would likely be the same event used to launch Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 with the start of the sales set for December 2024.

I bet Santa will be getting a lot of AR/VR/XR wishes in next year’s letters.