Samsung focuses on voice commands for XR headset

Project Moohan is expected to be released in the latter part of 2025

Samsung's Project Moohan extended reality headset is being developed in co-operation with Google. Photo: Google

Samsung Electronics' coming extended reality headset will focus on a multimodal experience centred on voice as it prepares to enter its newest hardware category later this year, a senior executive has said.

The company is in no rush to release the device dubbed Project Moohan in a category that has yielded mixed results for even the biggest technology companies, said Hyesoon Jeong, executive vice president, and head of framework research and development at Samsung Electronics.

In XR, multimodal interaction includes voice commands, hand gestures, eye tracking, haptics and controller inputs. In more advanced cases, brain computer interfaces can be used.

Project Moohan, which is being developed in partnership with Google, was teased at January's Unpacked in California. Ms Jeong had previously told The National that it might not be released this year, but Google, at its I/O conference in May, announced that it will be available by the end of 2025.

“For XR, we are already developing the UI [user interface] and it will be applied and moving forward” while the hardware is being built, she said at a round-table on the sidelines of Galaxy Unpacked in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

“The interface we will develop [will be] more say voice centric and multimodal; that's the direction that we will go,” she added, without specifying what interactions will be included in Project Moohan.

Hyesoon Jeong, executive vice president, and head of framework research and development at Samsung Electronics, at a roundtable on the sidelines of Galaxy Unpacked in Brooklyn. Alvin R Cabral / The National

Samsung's jump into the XR realm will pit it against some of the tech industry's top names in an increasingly crowded sector.

It is already well positioned to do so being the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer and a top chipmaker.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, already has its Meta Quest line-up of AR headsets and teamed up with Ray-Ban to launch smart glasses, while Microsoft already has its HoloLens. Apple, Samsung's biggest rival in smartphones, has the high-end Vision Pro, which has since been discontinued.

Another advantage Samsung enjoys is its extensive partnership with Google, allowing it to tap into the Alphabet-owned company's major generative artificial intelligence platform, Gemini – and AI itself is a critical factor in the development of advanced XR systems.

For Google, it could be an opportunity to redeem itself from the failure of its Project Iris and, most notably, Google Glass, its first major attempt to bring the device into the mainstream that struggled with a number of problems and a hefty $1,500 price tag.

Google's Gemini was chosen by Samsung as its main generative AI partner over other platforms such as Microsoft's Copilot because of its “openness”, Ms Jeong said.

California-based Google is the developer of the Android operating system used in Samsung smartphones and is the owner of some of the most used apps globally, including Gmail and YouTube, in which Gemini is integrated.

A multimedia board shows the history of Samsung Electronics, stretching more than five decades, at the company's Unpacked event in Brooklyn. All photos: Alvin R Cabral / The National

Samsung's first mobile phone, the SH-100, was launched in 1988.

In the 1990s, Samsung started making multimedia phones, including the world's first mobiles with watch, MP3 and TV.

The early 2000s saw Samsung focusing on competitive camera features on its cellular phones.

The year 2010 would mark a turning point for Samsung with the launch of the original Galaxy S – which would become the main rival of Apple's iPhone.

Samsung stepped up its game throughout the 2010s as it improved the Galaxy S line-up and launched the Galaxy Note.

In 2019, Samsung entered the foldable smartphone genre with the first Galaxy Fold, which would soon be followed by the Galaxy Flip.

“We thought that [Gemini] was optimised for the mobile environment. That's why we went with Gemini,” Ms Jeong said.

“Galaxy AI pursues openness, therefore, based on that philosophy, we continuously look at user needs and are always open to adopt to what users call for.”

'Respect' for user app preferences

Meanwhile, Samsung said it will maintain the presence of its native apps on its devices despite the dominance of Google's Gemini-backed services out of “respect” for user preferences, Ms Jeong said.

A number of apps that are pre-installed on Samsung phones perform the same tasks such as Google's; for example, Samsung Internet, Samsung Music and Samsung Gallery are equivalent to Chrome, YouTube Music and Google Photos.

Samsung apps cannot, however, be considered as bloatware, which are apps that are unnecessary or hinder performance, as they are part of the Galaxy Ecosystem that connects the company's devices, similar to the interconnectivity of Apple's hardware and software.

Samsung also has its own Galaxy Store where users can download apps specifically programmed for the company's devices; Ms Jeong said Samsung has a substantial number of users tapping into their native apps, hence the reason they will stick to this strategy.

“There are other instances though where we have to respect the choice of consumers, as well and their feedback,” she said.

“There are still many people who use Samsung [apps] … we try to respect and give options when needed.”