Best VR Headsets of 2025: My Favorite Hardware Right Now
VR and AR sometimes feel like a product category that has never been completely mainstream, but it is changing faster and faster.
Google and Samsung will launch a new VR/AR platform later this year Called Android Xr. Samsung’s project Moohan is a vision professional headset that will also run Google’s Gemini AI and a large number of Google Play apps. Expect Android XR to build a bridge between Android phones, headphones and glasses, although it’s hard to tell how quickly this transition will happen. Samsung’s headphones have no price or release date yet and look to be the only Android XR device for 2025. AndroidXR may be the future, but now, it’s hard to say whether you should wait for it. Qualcomm’s Future plans for VR and AR Relying on a phone is a way to power smaller glasses, but so far we have not recommended using any of these smaller devices.
Meanwhile, Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro Headphones – a standalone VR/AR device that Apple positions as a complete space computer – are the highest-priced devices on the consumer market with a pitch that is very different from gaming-centric devices like the Meta Quest. It has the ability to run various iOS apps and open multiple apps immediately, making it a unique choice, and its possibilities as an iOS mixed reality computer, along with its excellent display quality and unique hand-eye tracking method, Will make it a creator, researcher and anyone with a wallet big enough to pay for high-end personal movies on their faces. It also emphasizes things like computing and video quality rather than the biggest advantages of tasks: gaming and fitness. But it’s been over a year now, and Apple may move to a more affordable version in the next few years.
Vision Pro isn’t the only mixed reality VR headset out there: Looking forward to more in this category, it uses color delivery cameras to blend VR with video from its surroundings that are almost like augmented reality. Mission 3 is the most affordable mainstream mixed reality VR headset, while Apple is the most expensive. Samsung’s Moohan project will also have mixed reality, and I hope more.
Sony’s $550 PlayStation VR 2 Excellent console gaming VR experience for PlayStation 5 owners and includes Apple’s eye tracking Vision Probut not wireless, is still a relatively expensive accessory (it costs more than the PS5 itself). It’s more expensive than both the Quest 2 and Quest 3 and still requires PS5 work, but it’s much less expensive than the Vision Pro (although it’s all completely different in purpose and relies on limited PlayStation VR gaming uniformity capabilities). It has more limited library and features, making it less versatile than tasks, but it’s an interesting task for anyone who’s diving into the Sony PlayStation 5 ecosystem. However, the current PSVR 2 feels that this is not the future of headphones.
For PC owners, there are several options. You can use Task 3, Task 3S, PSVR 2, or you can use several existing devices. The largest former players in PC VR gaming scenarios (Microsoft, Valve and HTC) have been quiet in this regard, especially now that Microsoft has stopped most of the mixed reality efforts and VR headset compatibility. That may change again soon. A VR headset connected to a PC can provide the most versatile software family for an immersive VR experience, and it also allows you to use the headset for creative and business tools. Steam is obviously the best conduit for PC VR.
Cost of new VR headsets Rising these days. If price is your biggest problem, Quest 3s currently offers the best value in VR: a fully wireless experience with access to a great library Great game.