If you had told me that Samsung would release a rival to the best VR headsets in 2025 - well, I wouldn't have taken that bet, since Samsung's answer to the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro has been teased for years at this point. While the Samsung Galaxy XR is a more powerful and rightfully more expensive bit of tech compared to Meta's flagship, I wouldn't personally pick it for gaming, unless you're willing to spend even more money.
While Meta has been expanding the Quest 3 beyond the focus on the best VR games, it's still a very videogame-focused bit of tech, with many titles and experiences residing on the Meta Horizon store. However, the Samsung XR headset (which is just a fancy term for mixed reality) is definitely on the productivity side of things, but that doesn't mean it can't play games.
It should support Virtual Desktop, which means that you can play SteamVR games with ease, although you can't install the Meta Horizon OS on the device, sadly. It also boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which is an improved version of the chipset found in the Quest 3 - although it likely needs the boost to support the impressive-sounding 3552×3840 micro-OLED displays.
Starting from $1,799 at Samsung, it also balances between the Meta Quest 3's pretty decent ~$500 price (even cheaper with the 3S) and the expensive Apple Vision Pro. The Samsung XR headset was also developed alongside Google as the 'first Android XR headset,' and considering how friendly the open-source nature of the best gaming phones using the OS is, I wouldn't be surprised to see some games popping up. Although we'll need to wait for some VR developers to publish games with Samsung's headset in mind.
However, if you want to play it with a focus on games, you'll need to spend a little extra. The controllers, which don't come with the device bizarrely, will set you back another $250, so that brings it to $2,050 for the full setup. Alternatively, you can get the controllers as a bundle right now, bringing them down to $175, alongside Samsung's latest and best earbuds, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro, which are down to $132.99 in the bundle.
Of course, that's not taking into account any games that will work with hand-tracking, in which case, you won't need any extra controllers. But, after spending countless hours in virtual reality, controllers are much better to use than hands.
If you're looking for a headset that is more work than play, the Samsung XR headset could be a great choice. However, you can buy the best handheld consoles, a Meta Quest 3 (which is my favorite VR headset of the bunch), and still have plenty of money leftover for games and accessories. I'm excited to see what Android XR is, but I think Meta may continue to win on price alone.