I tried Samsung's Project Moohan XR headset at I/O 2025 - and couldn't help but smile

Putting on Project Moohan, an upcoming XR headset developed by Google, Samsung, and Qualcomm, for the first time felt strangely familiar. From twisting the head strap knob on the back to slipping the standalone battery pack into my pants pocket, my mind was transported back to February of 2024, when I tried on the Apple Vision Pro during launch day. Also: Xreal's Project Aura are the Google smart glasses we've all been waiting for Only this time, the headset was powered by Android XR, Google's newest operating system built around Gemini, the same AI model that dominated the Google I/O headlines this week. The difference in software was immediately noticeable, from the starting home grid of Google apps like Photos, Maps, and YouTube (which VisionOS still lacks) to prompting for Gemini instead of Siri with a long press of the headset's multifunctional key. While my demo with Project Moohan lasted only about ten minutes, it gave me a fundamental understanding of how it's challenging Apple's Vision Pro and how Google, Samsung, and Qualcomm plan to convince the masses that the future of spatial computing does, in fact, live in a bulkier, space helmet-like device. For starters, there's no denying that the industrial designers of Project Moohan drew some inspiration from the Apple Vision Pro.