SEOUL: Samsung is reportedly planning to develop chips for XR (Extended Reality) devices as the company is expected to unveil a new XR headset sometime later this year or the first half of next year.
According to The Korea Economic Daily, citing sources, the company's plans to venture into the XR device chip market are now taking concrete shape.
The System LSI division of Samsung that makes Exynos processors and ISOCELL camera sensors has started taking its first step toward making processors for XR devices.
The tech giant also plans to compete with Google and Qualcomm.
Moreover, the report said that the company could design completely new chips or modify existing ones to suit XR devices.
The chipsets are responsible for running the operating system and applications, calculating sensor data, and tracking user motions.
With XR devices, rich data can be overlaid over reality to create experiences like live translation, immersive meetings, and navigation, the report said.
According to Counterpoint Research, over 110 million XR devices could be sold yearly by 2025, a massive jump from the current 18 million units per year.
Another market tracker, IDC, predicts the XR devices market will reach $50.9 billion in 2025, up from $13.9 billion in 2022.
In November last year, Meta (formerly Facebook) released its new high-end mixed reality headset, Meta Quest Pro.
The company has sold over 10 million units of its predecessor Meta Quest worldwide.
Apple is expected to reveal its own VR headset, tentatively named Reality Pro, at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2023 on June 5.