Leaked concept video featuring two Samsung AR devices has come to light. Although just concepts and not functioning products as such, it’s clear the Korean tech giant is gearing up to compete with companies like Facebook and Apple as they inch ever closer to releasing consumer AR headsets.

Known leaker ‘WalkingCat‘ released two videos showing a pair of separate device concepts. WalkingCat was also involved in leaking photos of Oculus Quest 2 before it was launched, and Lenovo’s latest ThinkReality AR glasses for enterprise before it was announced at CES this year.

This first device appears to be smartglasses for casual media consumption, dubbed ‘Samsung Glasses Lite’. The video (seen below) shows off what we’d expect from a pair of 3DOF-tracked smartglasses, namely the ability to view traditional flatsceen media through a virtual monitor.

One interesting idea outside the norm however is its ability to use active shading so it can not only compensate for high ambient lighting, but coopt that function to use them as ‘dumb’ sunglasses. That may mean the company wants to make them all-day wear devices.

The second device ideates a much more immersive feature set. Simply called ‘Samsung AR Glasses’, it looks to pitch the 6DOF-tracked headset for work applications such as 3D product design and collaborative in-person ‘holo calls’.

It’s important to note that these devices, as we see them in the videos, are very likely just ideas on paper at this point.

The ‘Samsung AR Glasses’ don’t appear to include any sort of optical tracking, and the glasses themselves seem to be simple plastic frames with no discernable display, be it waveguide or birdbath (waveguides can be seen on Glasses Lite, but that’s not saying much). Despite the chunky plastic frames, they’re both considerably small too.

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If Samsung AR Glasses did exist as we see them in the video above, it would signify a truly magic leap in mobile processing. Being able to fit all of the required compute power, batteries, and display tech into such a small package is the dream, but currently not the reality.

So although we may not see these sorts of devices from Samsung for a while, it’s an interesting look at the state of the industry. Both Facebook and Apple are tight-lipped on their respective AR products, but you’d expect Samsung to know more about what its competitors are up to than the general public. The division between smartglasses as a ‘Lite’ option and AR glasses as a work-force-multiplier is an interesting choice which may be Big Tech’s first gambit into consumer AR; i.e. offer lower priced smartglasses with tight software integration and higher priced AR glasses for enterprise and prosumers.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Kevin White

    “…it would signify a truly magic leap in mobile processing…”

    Ha! :o)

    Also learned a new word, “resard.”

    • guest

      Every tech company with the word Magic in it has failed, after Tricking everybody in one way or another! Does anyone remember General Magic?

  • I’m horrified, everything is in 2d. If 2d glasses are succesful they could discard 3D forever, even in VR

    • Sven Viking

      The architecture thing was supposed to be 3D, but yeah, a whole lot of virtual 2D screens in this concept.

    • VR5

      Unless you don’t perceive spatial depth, 3D is crucial to making the virtual feel real. So VR will always require 3D.

    • dk

      it’s not in 2d …just the pc monitors r 2d

  • Andrew Jakobs

    ugh, watching a movie on these type of AR glasses is just awful, the movie will be transparent..
    Shame we don’t hear anything about new Samsung VR-headsets.

    • To the Moon

      you should look into nreal ar glasses there are several videos that capture the video in the glasses and they are not bad.
      both samsung and LG were working with nreal in korea where you can already purchase the glasses.
      sadly due too us issues they are not available here and may never be available.

      the quality of nreal has better color and resolution than holo lense as well as adjustable brightness and decent visibility due to dark tint on the glass and refractive coating.

  • johann jensson

    Augmented cr@p… What about those cool looking insect-like VR headsets, we are still waiting for those, Samsung!

  • Jim P

    It all comes down the FOV for me.

  • Yes, the videos are useless concepts, but they show us that Samsung is in the AR game!

  • oomph

    ‘all-day wear devices’
    That would be great
    Btw thumbs up