[NEWS] Microsoft and Samsung develop rival to Vision Pro headset

Samsung is working with Microsoft to develop a product to compete with Apple Vision Pro. Local media The Elec reported.

According to The Elec, Microsoft has signed a contract with Samsung for OLED panels to be installed in a new XR device headset.

According to the contract, Microsoft XR devices will be released and mass-produced as early as 2026.

This means that five of the world's top IT companies by market capitalization - Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia - are developing metaverse-related devices.

Sources say the order could be in the hundreds of thousands, and the device will focus on flat-screen gaming, movies, and other video content viewing, rather than engagement in the "metaverse."

Samsung Display is supplying Microsoft with hundreds of thousands of Micro OLED panels. These panels will be used in mixed reality headsets. It is unclear how far along Microsoft is in the development of a mixed reality headset, but it is reported that it will be developed in 2025 and available for sale in 2026.

Microsoft launched its first mixed reality headset, HoloLens, in 2016. It then launched HoloLens 2 in 2019. Both headsets were priced at $3,500. The former used Intel x86-64 chips, while the latter used Qualcomm's ARM chips.

Considering canceling HoloLens 

Late last year, Microsoft abandoned its WMR platform, and has been focusing mainly on smaller XR software projects since the HoloLens AR platform continued to stagnate.

In January 2024, it also released support for 3D and VR conferencing in its immersive chat platform "Mesh."

The company then announced at its Build developer conference in May that it would bring the Windows Volumetric app to Quest.

Since the release of Vision Pro earlier this year, it seems that Microsoft has been competing with Apple, or at least preparing for competition.

Samsung and Google announced in July that they would develop their next "XR platform" this fiscal year.

The platform, believed to be hardware made by Samsung and the Android XR operating system made by Google, was previously reported to have been delayed to better compete with the Vision Pro. Meta is also reportedly considering developing a rival to the Vision Pro, with the device set to go on sale as soon as 2027. 

Reference: The Elec
Image: Shutterstock 

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