A tipster provides us a peek beneath the hood of the Samsung XR headset, the corporate’s reply to the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.
After a number of teaser appearances – most notably at Google I/O the place the tech large confirmed Samsung would launch “Challenge Moohan” later this yr – a recent leak has make clear what’s powering the Korean producer’s XR headset.
Ever-reliable tipster Abhishek Yadav has performed what tipsters do finest, sharing a Geekbench screenshot on X that offers us a glimpse into Samsung’s {hardware} selections.
The benchmark clearly labels the gadget with mannequin quantity “SM-I610” and confirms what many people suspected—it’s working Qualcomm’s beefy Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 processor.
Qualcomm unveiled this silicon final yr, purposely crafting it to deal with the distinctive calls for of prolonged actuality experiences with Adreno GPUs that excel at rendering complicated 3D environments with out bringing body charges crashing down—one thing that will shortly flip an immersive expertise right into a nauseating one.
What’s beneath the bonnet of the Samsung XR headset?
The processor seems to be sporting six CPU cores buzzing alongside at 2.36GHz, paired with an Adreno 740 GPU. If that graphics unit sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of comparable variations energy a few of at present’s top-shelf Android mobiles.
Efficiency-wise, the benchmark exhibits single and multi-core scores of 990 and a couple of,453 respectively. Whereas numbers alone don’t inform the entire story, these outcomes counsel Samsung isn’t messing about with regards to uncooked processing energy.
Maybe most telling is the 16GB of RAM that accompanies the chipset. That’s an honest quantity of reminiscence for a headset and hints at Samsung’s ambitions for multitasking and complicated purposes. The gadget seems to be working Android 14, particularly tailor-made for XR environments—once more, no surprises there, given Google’s involvement within the venture.
Seeing is believing
Whereas the benchmark doesn’t spill the beans on show tech, the hearsay mill suggests Samsung has opted for Sony’s 4K micro-OLED shows. If true, we’re a visible expertise with 3,552 × 3,840 decision.
For context, that’s more likely to ship significantly sharper visuals than what you’d discover in Meta’s Quest 3, although maybe not fairly matching the eye-watering readability of Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional. The shows reportedly pump out 1,000 nits of brightness whereas drawing simply 20% energy — effectivity that might show essential for extending battery life, historically a weak level for XR headsets.
Color replica seems robust too, with 96% protection of the DCI-P3 gamut, whereas the 90fps refresh price strikes a wise stability between smoothness and efficiency.
One facet that piques my curiosity is Samsung’s integration of Google’s Gemini AI capabilities. In a world the place each tech product appears to be slapping AI onto the spec sheet, the partnership with Google might ship significant advantages in a spatial computing context.
Think about asking Gemini to analyse what you’re by way of the headset’s cameras, or having it counsel contextual data with out breaking your immersion. The chances are thrilling if carried out thoughtfully.
More and more crowded market
Samsung isn’t precisely first to this specific celebration. Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional has already made waves with its spectacular capabilities however unaffordable (for many of us) £3,499/$3,499 price ticket, whereas Meta continues to dominate the extra reasonably priced finish of the spectrum with its Quest lineup.
What makes Samsung’s entry fascinating is the corporate’s distinctive place. In contrast to Apple, Samsung has years of expertise working carefully with Google on Android, probably giving it a software program edge over different Android-based contenders. And, in contrast to Meta, Samsung isn’t primarily depending on promoting income.
The Google partnership hints at a deal with ecosystem integration that might make or break the headset’s enchantment. In spite of everything, what good is fancy {hardware} if there’s nothing compelling to do with it?
As we edge nearer to the promised “later this yr” launch window, the burning questions shift from uncooked specs to extra sensible considerations. How comfy will it’s throughout prolonged use? What’s the battery life like? And maybe most crucially for mass adoption, what worth level is Samsung focusing on?
If Samsung can thread the needle between Meta’s accessibility and Apple’s premium expertise – whereas leveraging its show manufacturing prowess – we could possibly be a real contender within the XR area.
For builders and tech lovers alike, Samsung’s entry represents one other vote of confidence in spatial computing as the following main computing platform. Whether or not it succeeds or stumbles will rely not simply on these spectacular specs, however on the ecosystem and experiences Samsung and Google can domesticate across the {hardware}.
(Picture credit score: Samsung)
See additionally: Google House is lastly getting sensible with Gemini AI
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