A South Korean report may have uncovered Samsung's roadmap for the launch of the next XR (mixed reality) device. Samsung won't release the revolutionary wearable at the next Unpacked event in early 2025. However, the company has supposedly settled on a production number and a release timeframe.
Assuming this report by Sedaily is accurate, we'll have to wait until the second half of 2025 before we can get our hands on Samsung's next-gen XR headset/glasses.
Samsung will supposedly release the XR device in Q3. In other words, it might debut at the 2nd big Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025, where we expect Samsung to reveal the Galaxy Z7 series of foldable phones.
However, Samsung may have a final teaser reveal for the XR device planned for the first Unpacked event of the year in January.
Entering the XR scene with 20,000 units
Samsung has reportedly settled on a mass-production strategy for its XR headset, and the company may want to enter the XR game in Q3 2025 with a mass-production run of 20,000 units.
Later, in Q4 2025, Samsung intends to manufacture another batch of 30,000 units for a total of 50,000 in 2025.
However, the number of XR units manufactured in Q4 may depend a lot on the headset's initial market performance.
If demand is high enough, Samsung may want to cash in on the year-end shopping season and produce more than 30,000 XR headsets in the fourth quarter of 2025.
More details after the video
The mixed reality market still feels like it's in the emerging stages, so it makes sense for Samsung to be at least prudent with its initial production plans. High prices and niche applications remain high barriers to entry. Even Apple failed to make the XR market boom with its Vision Pro headset.
Almost 10 years ago, Samsung helped the VR market in its early stages by creating cheap headsets for phone users. It introduced the Gear VR series. The company's strategy for the XR segment 10 years later might look a lot different, but some reports say that Samsung doesn't intend to copy Apple, either.