• Build the ecosystem first
• Target to open the platform within this year
• Improve customer satisfaction

Samsung Electronics is making changes to its extended reality (XR) ecosystem building work, which it is carrying out in partnership with Qualcomm and Google. A year and a half after announcing the "tripartite alliance" in early last year, it is shifting its priorities from device development to platform and ecosystem building. “Instead of XR devices, we will build the ecosystem first to provide more complete products,” said Noh Tae-moon, head of Samsung Electronics’ MX Business, at a press conference held in Paris, France on the 10th. This is to enable consumers to enjoy a variety of services and content.

Noh added that he would prepare the ecosystem-related parts and open the platform by the end of this year. This means building a comprehensive ecosystem, including the OS, platform, SDK, and developer kit. This change is a strategic decision to increase customer satisfaction with XR devices and ensure that new category products are properly established.

“Samsung, Qualcomm, and Google have been steadily preparing for development as planned since announcing a strategic collaboration for XR products and services last year,” said Noh. “Instead of releasing XR devices first and then creating an ecosystem, we have changed direction to create the ecosystem first and then launch products.” He explained that this is to ensure that consumers are satisfied and can use more complete products. The judgment is that simply relying on existing apps or collaboration with a small number of companies is not enough for a new category of product to become established.

The market expected Samsung Electronics to handle the device, Google to handle the operating system (OS), and Qualcomm to handle the chipset. However, with the mention of the platform opening within the year, the possibility of the actual product launch being delayed until next year has increased.