TL;DR
- Samsung’s newest earnings report confirms plans for “XR gadgets” in 2025.
- The corporate has already expressed curiosity in an XR headset, and this implies it’s nonetheless a precedence.
- Individually, an previous patent utility is inspiring hypothesis about how this new {hardware} may take form.
Are we within the early days of an AR/VR/MR renaissance, or simply watching the newest makes an attempt of firms making an attempt and failing to make their numerous prolonged actuality (XR) efforts stick? On one hand, we now have rumors about Apple shutting down Imaginative and prescient Professional manufacturing, and on the opposite we’ve obtained Meta bringing high-quality VR to the plenty with the brand new Quest 3S. A crossroads like this could be a massive alternative for gamers able to make the most of it, and proper now Samsung’s trying prefer it could be in simply the proper spot.
Samsung flirted with VR early on with the Gear VR, even partnering with Oculus, earlier than abandoning these efforts on the flip of the last decade. However earlier this yr, it appeared that the spark had retuned, and we began listening to severe chatter about Samsung’s renewed curiosity in XR. With even the Play Retailer preparing for XR apps, our greatest query has been once we may see this new {hardware} land, and that’s trying an increasing number of firmly like “someday subsequent yr.”
Corporations in every single place are sharing their newest quarterly figures with buyers proper now, and Samsung isn’t any totally different. This week in its Q3 report, Samsung expresses one in every of its 2025 targets for its cell enterprise as, “Enhance connectivity amongst merchandise, together with upcoming XR gadgets, to additional elevate person experiences within the Galaxy ecosystem,” (through Gizmodo).
Whereas that’s nonetheless a fairly broad window, it’s nonetheless very reassuring for any XR lovers to listen to the corporate speaking about these plans as one thing it intends to deal with within the very close to future, fairly than talking extra vaguely about its intent, or with some nebulous, far-off date.
We can also’t assist however discover the usage of “gadgets,” plural, there. The corporate has lately talked about mixed-reality good glasses, however might we additionally get one thing a little bit extra immersive? If there are a number of merchandise within the works, that feels more and more doubtless.
So Samsung’s new XR answer is coming, and shortly — nice. However what kind is it going to take? Right here, the data we’re is kind of a bit shakier, however nonetheless fairly attention-grabbing. Simply be sure to take a second to understand the context this arrives in:
Two years in the past, Samsung submitted a patent utility in South Korea for a pair of cell controllers that connect to a central charging dock — and blessedly, that paperwork features a picture of the {hardware} in query. SamMobile resurfaced that submitting this week, and we now have to confess: These actually do appear like they could possibly be the controllers you utilize with an XR headset. The translated textual content even identifies this as a “Metaverse Controller.”
However as a result of this can be a patent, an enormous quantity of warning is warranted. A patent is way from a assure that an thought might be become a business product — and even when Samsung does intend to construct and promote this, we nonetheless can’t say with any certainty if this might be part of its 2025 XR plans. It’s attention-grabbing to consider, although, isn’t it?
