Samsung collaborate with Qualcomm, Google to develop XR ecosystem

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is joining forces with Qualcomm and Google to build an ecosystem dedicated to extended reality or the XR. The South Korean electronics company headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, revealed the partnership last week during the Galaxy Unpacked event that was held in San Francisco.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Qualcomm's chief executive officer, Cristiano Amon and Google's senior vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, attended the event and appeared on stage with Samsung Electronics' president of Mobile eXperience business, Roh Tae Moon. They announced their collaboration for XR experience there.

Lockheimer explained the importance of their collaboration which will bring together the best state-of-the-art hardware and software technologies to create the next-generation digital experiences for the world.

The executives did not mention any specific products that are currently under development, but business observers believe that Samsung Electronics may make some XR headsets with Google's operating system (OS) and Qualcomm's chipset. The companies did not provide an exact timeline for their project as well.

The announcement of Samsung, Qualcomm, and Google's deal came amid speculations that the South Korean firm is looking to compete with Apple in the virtual reality field. In fact, it may introduce its first virtual reality (VR) headset as early as this spring.

"In partnership with Qualcomm and Google, we are working on a next-generation XR form factor," The Korea Economic Daily quoted Roh as saying during the Galaxy Unpacked event. "The three of us, who have deep trust in each other, are going to change the future of the mobile world with shared XR technologies."

He added, "We will transform the future of the mobile industry by building the XR ecosystem together with Qualcomm and Google. It will take time to introduce new products, but we will make progress and provide you with new updates."