The Samsung Galaxy XR is secretly a Pixel

Last week I got to spend some time with Samsung’s latest device, a mixed reality headset called the Galaxy XR. This is the “Project Moohan” product that Samsung has been working on for ages to take on the Apple Vision Pro. It’s a big launch for the company, and it’s even competitively priced – well, sort of. HAS $1,799That’s about half the price of Apple’s headset, which is certainly good news, but still a huge amount of money.

I’ve already talked at length about what the Galaxy XR is and how to use it. In this article, however, I want to talk about something I realized almost immediately after my demonstration with the headset: it’s not really a Samsung device.

I know, it seems weird. Its name has the word “Galaxy” in it, and the hardware is clearly the result of Samsung’s incredible manufacturing and engineering. But the soul of the machine, the real experience of using it? It’s all Google.

When I hear “Samsung Galaxy”, I have very clear expectations. I expect to see things like One UI, Samsung’s heavy but feature-rich Android skin. I expect to find Samsung-designed apps, Galaxy AI features, and maybe even a spurious Bixby command. Hell, I at least expect to see the words “Samsung” or “Galaxy” somewhere on the device itself.

That’s not it. What I used felt less like a Samsung product and more like the very first Google Pixel XR headset, which Samsung just built.

During my demo session with the Galaxy XR, I was looking for traces of One UI. I was expecting the familiar app icons, Samsung’s settings menu, and even bloatware. They never came. This got me thinking about the Galaxy XR keynote launch and realized that no Samsung apps or features were mentioned there either.

Instead, all I saw was Google. It seemed as pure and untouched as the software on a Google Pixel phone. Honestly, it was weird. Using a $1,799 Samsung device without any real Samsung presence in the software seemed almost wrong. To be clear, everything was perfectly functional, but it just wasn’t what I expected.

In fact, it’s Google’s experiences that literally define this product. If you compare the Galaxy XR ($1799.99 at Samsung) to Meta Quest 3 ($499.99 at Best Buy) or the Apple Vision Pro ($3499 at Apple), you’ll see a lot of crossover, like with base design, hand tracking controls, etc. What the Galaxy XR offers that the other two don’t come directly from Google: Gemini and Google Play.

Let me start with the Play Store. Since Android is at the heart of Android There will of course be exceptions, as with anything that requires a phone-shaped device or a physical screen. But 99% of the Play Store is already working on the Galaxy XR, giving it a huge advantage over something like the Meta Quest 3.

And then there is Gemini. When Google announced Android XR late last year, it said it was the first operating system designed from the ground up for the “Gemini era.” It wasn’t a joke. Gemini isn’t just an app you launch whenever you want; it’s built into the operating system. This makes the Galaxy XR the first (and, as far as I know, only) XR headset on the market designed for AI.

During my demo, I could access Gemini at any time by holding down the multifunction button on the top right of the headset. The familiar Gemini interface appeared immediately. I could talk to him directly about anything, as usual, but the real thing is that Gemini could see everything I saw. This was useful during software demonstrations, for example when I was in Google Photos. I could ask what was in the photo, when it was taken, or identify someone in it. Samsung also showed a demo of Gemini helping a gamer by checking what they were playing and giving them tips on how to succeed.

And remember, the headset can also “see” the real world with a low-latency color video stream. This allows you to not only ask Gemini about what it sees in VR, but also what it sees around you in reality. You can even use Circle to Search in this mode.

The rest of my demo was essentially a guided tour of Google’s apps, remixed for mixed reality.

• Google Photos: Although it works like on your phone with a vast gallery of 2D photos, by simply tapping on one of them, the headset’s Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 processor (yes, that’s its real name) analyzed the photo and converted it into a stereoscopic 3D image on the fly. This adds a pretty cool layer of depth and could be pretty powerful for photos that have an emotional impact for you, like that of a loved one who passed away or a partner you miss while they’re gone.
• Google Maps: It was the big “wow” demo. I started by floating in space, looking down at Earth. I said, “Gemini, take me to Manhattan,” and immediately left my orbit, flying over the Big Apple. I could zoom in, access Street View, and walk around the city. But the new trick is that you can now walk around inside some buildings. Google uses AI to stitch together all the photos and videos people have uploaded to Maps to create walkable 3D environments. The experience was a bit shaky, but the promises of this technology are crazy. I can imagine “traveling” to a tourist destination long before I get on a plane so I know what to see and what to avoid once there.
• YouTube: This one is a no-brainer. I watched 360 degree videos and an interactive 3D movie. And, just like with Google Photos, the headset will eventually be able to take a standard 2D YouTube video and automatically convert it to stereoscopic. This feature will arrive later, but I was able to try a first version on one of my own videosand it was really cool.

This was all amazing, but at the end of the demo I asked the Samsung rep who helped me, “So where are all the Samsung apps? Where is One UI?”

I received a very polite and professional non-response: “For today, we’re just focusing on these amazing Google-based experiences.”

So yes, they are not there. Maybe they’ll be added later, or maybe they’ll even be there when you take the Galaxy XR out of the box, but I doubt it. If this was true, why weren’t they shown to me?

Ultimately, this device appears to be 80% Google, 15% Samsung, and 5% Qualcomm. This isn’t a criticism, I’m not saying the headset is bad. It’s just that my limited experience has left me with the impression that Samsung is simply acting as a manufacturer for Google’s flagship XR ambitions. And all of this is giving me a serious case of déjà vu.

For those of you who weren’t obsessed with Android back in the day, Samsung and Google teamed up on a legendary phone: the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus brand was Google’s “stock” Android label, predating Pixel, which eventually replaced it. The phone featured Samsung’s absolutely incredible hardware – it was one of the first phones with a big, beautiful HD AMOLED screen – but it ran pure Android. There was no bulky TouchWiz skin, as Samsung’s software was called at the time. It was called the “Google Experience Phone,” but it was built by Samsung.

That’s exactly what the Galaxy XR is.

In that sense, one could consider this the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Nexus, much like the Mixed Reality Nexus. However, Google hasn’t used the Nexus branding in years, so now we just have to call this what I think it really is: the Pixel XR.

The only question left is whether anyone will buy it. The Apple Vision Pro is a well-known bomb (by Apple standards, anyway). Apple failed to convince the world to buy a $3,500 face computer. Samsung and Google are betting that “half the price” is the magic number. But $1,799 is still a huge amount for a device that, for now, seems like a very cool and very expensive toy for playing and watching 3D maps.

I remain cautiously optimistic. I want this to succeed. But as it stands, the most interesting thing about Samsung’s new headset is how little Samsung there is in it.