Project Moohan: Meet Samsung’s Bet To Rival The Apple Vision Pro

The Apple Vision Pro caught the attention of many brands to mixed reality and VR smart glasses again, and Samsung is aiming to revolutionize this market with a new project that promises to explore the eXtended Reality (XR) landscape with Galaxy AI, trying to merge physical and digital worlds through intuitive, multimodal interactions.

Different from the classic Gear VR (check out our review here), the XR encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) — this last one was deeply explored with the Samsung HMD Odyssey —, offering limitless possibilities for gaming, entertainment, work, education, and health. Users can explore immersive environments with natural inputs such as voice, gestures, and gaze, supported by the Galaxy ecosystem.

Central to this vision is an open collaboration with Google and Qualcomm to create an innovative Android XR platform; This platform integrates technologies like Gemini, a conversational user interface (UI) with contextual understanding, enabling personalized and seamless interactions. Designed for headsets and glasses, the platform expands beyond traditional controls, offering intuitive voice-driven experiences and acting as a personal AI assistant.

Samsung’s first XR headset, codenamed “Project Moohan,” embodies this vision. “Moohan,” meaning “infinity” in Korean, reflects the device’s aim to deliver boundless immersive experiences. The headset features advanced displays, Passthrough capabilities, and lightweight ergonomic design, enabling users to explore spatial applications like Google Maps, watch YouTube sports matches, or plan trips with Gemini’s assistance.

Samsung emphasizes its user-first approach, leveraging mobile AI leadership to enhance XR technology and make it widely accessible. By uniting expertise and partnerships, Samsung ensures a robust and scalable XR ecosystem enriched with content from Galaxy apps, Google services, and third-party developers.

Samsung’s leadership heralds a transformative era for XR, promising meaningful interactions that transcend physical boundaries. According to Won-Joon Choi, EVP at Samsung, and Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem at Google, this collaboration marks a pivotal moment for XR, blending AI advancements with cutting-edge hardware to reshape how users interact with technology.

It’s worth remembering that Samsung stopped the VR apps support for gear VR in May 2020 so, it’s been a while since the South Korean giant decided to drift away from this product category. With Project Moohan as the starting point, the possibilities for XR remain infinite. Let’s hope this project is capable of delivering a nice rival to the Apple Vision Pro, and it’s premium price tag.

Filed in General. Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), Augmented Reality (AR), Qualcomm and Virtual Reality (VR).