Samsung opens UK preorders for Galaxy XR headset, £1,699

Samsung has opened preorders for its Galaxy XR mixed reality headset in the United Kingdom, with general availability scheduled for July 8, 2026. The device, which first launched in the United States and South Korea in October 2025, represents Samsung's major entry into the premium mixed reality hardware market and is positioned as a direct competitor to Apple's Vision Pro.

Priced at £1,699, the Galaxy XR is the first device to ship with Google's Android XR platform, an operating system designed to blend digital content with a user's physical surroundings. The headset was developed in partnership with Google and chipmaker Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 system-on-a-chip powers the device. It features dual 4K MicroOLED displays, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage.

The software experience emphasizes multimodal artificial intelligence interactions, allowing users to navigate through voice commands, hand gestures, and eye tracking. Core Google services are deeply integrated, including the Gemini AI assistant for contextual queries, Google Maps for immersive 3D exploration, and YouTube for a library of spatial and 360-degree video content. A "Circle to Search" feature enables...