Move over Apple Vision Pro – Samsung's XR headset smells like a winner

Earlier this year, Apple unveiled one of their most revolutionary products yet – the Apple Vision Pro. The XR headset – or spatial computer, to use Apple's own terminology – is designed to make computing tasks more immersive.

They're far from the only brand in on the act, though. We also learned about a Samsung XR headset earlier this year. That was announced at the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event, and is a collaborative effort between Samsung, Google and Qualcomm.

Details about the headset have remained relatively thin on the ground so far, but now a rumoured spec has emerged – and it's something you'll never have guessed. According to noted tech tipster, Tech_Reve, the headset will include support for smell. Reve enjoys a fairly good reputation when it comes to tech leaks, giving the news a little added credence.

So how will smell support work? We're not 100% sure, but lets speculate a little. The two most likely outcomes are that the device can either sense smell, or create smells. The latter certainly seems more useful – perhaps helping to recreate scenes in a more multi-sensory way.

It certainly has some potential. It would be interesting to see how they achieve something like that – though I can't say I'm entirely sold. I do love the idea of seeing a photo or video and being taken back with the smell, though. I also kind of love the idea of a smell-o-vision setup. Useful? Probably not, but it would be a quirky feature addition.

It isn't the only feature leaked in the Tweet. According to that, the support for touch will also feature, as well as a display with over 3,000ppi. That should make for some pretty hefty display performance, which should allow this to stack up directly against the Vision Pro.

We also know when we could get some more details about the technology. According to Reve, some of those features could be on show at the Samsung LSI Tech Day. That's taking place on the 5th of October 2023 – the same day as the Samsung Developer Conference. 

Could we see a first version of the device at the conference? Maybe. The only way to know for sure will be to tune in when the conference happens.