galaxy glasses

Samsung Files XR ‘Glasses’ Trademark in the UK

Samsung has secured a trademark with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office for ‘Samsung Glasses’, which could mean we’re finally seeing some movement from the South Korean tech giant to release an XR headset.

Filed in August and later entered into registry in November, the Samsung Glasses trademark specifies that it covers “Virtual reality headsets; Augmented reality headsets; Headphones; Smartphones; Smart glasses.” The news was first reported by UploadVR.

Samsung announced in February it was partnering with Google and Qualcomm to develop an XR device, something the company said at the time was “not too far away.” We’re still not sure what it will be other than hardware made by Samsung, software by Google, and chipset by Qualcomm.

While unconfirmed as a related device, only a short month later Samsung filed for the US trademark ‘Samsung Galaxy Glasses’. In its description, the US filing is said to cover the same categories as the UK trademark.

Granted, this is a pretty wide range of devices which span the entire XR gamut, although both proposed ‘Glasses’ monikers seem to imply it wouldn’t be a direct competitor to either Meta Quest 3 or the soon-to-release Apple Vision Pro, the $3,500 mixed reality headset which is set to launch sometime early next year.

Quest 3 (left) and Apple Vision Pro (right) | Based on images courtesy Meta, Apple

Vision Pro is well beyond the size of spectacles, so calling anything with that format would be an odd move. There are a few candidates though.

Something similar to Meta’s Smart Glasses from Ray-Ban could be more fitting to bear the ‘Samsung Glasses’ name. Confusingly enough, Meta Smart Glasses don’t have a display, instead packing in cameras, off-ear headphones, microphones, and voice access to Meta’s digital assistant.

Another option might be a device similar to XREAL’s Air 2 Pro, which packs in birdbath optics and micro-OLEDs for traditional content consumption, such as film, TV, and flatscreen video games.

A full-blown pair of all-day AR glasses is decidedly out of the picture though, as optics and battery technology (among other things) still aren’t at a point where they’d fit into a glasses format. These are problems that every major tech company in the XR space is working on currently, but it’s safe to say we’re years away from what many hope will be the next major computing platform.

Samsung Files Trademark for ‘Galaxy Glasses’ AR/VR Headset

AR News, galaxy glasses, galaxy ring, News, samsung, samsung galaxy glasses, Samsung VR / Mike M. / March 7, 2023

Samsung announced last month it was partnering with Google and Qualcomm to develop an XR device, something the company said at the time was “not too far away.” While we’re still left guessing as to what sort of headset the Korean tech giant has in store, a new trademark filing has come to light which may suggest the headset’s naming scheme.

As reported by 9to5Google, Samsung filed a trademark request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on February 27th for the name ‘Galaxy Glasses’.

In its description, the trademark registration is said to cover the categories of “virtual reality headsets; Augmented reality headsets; Headphones; Smartphones; Smart glasses.”

According to a recent Washington Post interview with TM Roh, the president and head of Samsung’s mobile experience business, an upcoming Samsung XR device is “getting there, but we’re not too far away.”

Roh told WaPo that the XR headset’s chipset is going to be “a strategic collaboration with Qualcomm.” Google is building the software, while Samsung builds the hardware.

Provided the trademark isn’t just a defensive measure, and will actually be applied to a real product, Samsung would be pitching the proposed device as a part of its Galaxy line, which includes its smartphones, tablets, notebooks, smartwatches, and earbuds.

Notably, the company has never positioned its VR devices directly under its Galaxy branding, with Samsung Gear VR and its PC VR headset HMD Odyssey marketed separately from the Samsung mothership of mobile devices.

Smasung Odyssey+ | Image courtesy Samsung

It shouldn’t come as any real surprise the Korean tech giant is prepping XR hardware now. In 2021, two leaked videos surfaced featuring Samsung AR concept devices, although we haven’t heard anything since about the company’s XR ambitions until Samsung announced it was throwing its hat back in the game with Google and Qualcomm by its side.

Meanwhile, Apple’s rumored mixed reality headset is reportedly set to arrive sometime this year at around $3,000, with a lower-cost version of Apple’s mixed reality headset reportedly set to follow sometime in 2024 or early 2025.

And although Apple is largely seen as the most present threat, Meta recently released word it is not only prepping an enthusiast-targeted Quest 3 headset for release this year, and a “more accessible” consumer version in 2024, but possibly another ‘Pro’ branded Quest headset “way out in the future,” Mark Rabki, Meta’s VP of VR, allegedly told thousands of employees in a memo last week.

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