Samsung enters metaverse race, creating its own version

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics is accelerating its research and development of metaverse-related technologies in a bid to nurture its new growth engines, joining the growing list of global tech firms that are betting big on the new field.

Samsung Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee has recently discussed the topic with a number of employees and reaffirmed the company's plan to roll out "Samsung's version of the metaverse," according to the sources.

"We will create Samsung's version of the metaverse. Please come up with many ideas and help materialise them," Han was quoted as saying, reports Yonhap news agency.

It was not the first time the top executive had mentioned the need to delve into the emerging technology, seen as the next big thing in the global tech industry.

Facebook officially changed its name to Meta in November, believing the metaverse is "the next evolution of social connection," with plans to invest $10 billion on the new technology.

Han chose the metaverse and robotics as the tech giant's new growth areas at the March annual shareholders' meeting.

"We will launch metaverse devices and solutions to enable customers to experience the new technology wherever they are," he said at that time.

Han also made similar remarks during the 2022 MWC in Barcelona, Spain, in February.

Samsung, the world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker, has recently set up a task force dedicated to the subject, which reports directly to Han, and is reportedly developing a virtual reality headset under the Galaxy name as its first metaverse-related product.

Samsung Research, the R&D hub of the company's Device eXperience (DX) unit, is studying "the next-generation display technologies and device prototypes," as well as various utilisation scenarios, according to the company.

Samsung has also used the metaverse for marketing and entertainment purposes.

The company built a virtual store, Samsung 837X, which is a replica of its real-life flagship New York store, on the blockchain-powered virtual world Decentraland to showcase its latest flagship Galaxy S22 series.