Product Code Database
Android XR is an extended reality (XR) operating system developed by Google and Samsung. It is based on Android. It was announced in December 2024 and will launch in 2025. The operating system is designed to support XR devices, including Samsung’s Project Moohan headset and a pair of smartglasses developed by Google DeepMind. Android XR is heavily integrated with the Google Gemini generative artificial intelligence–powered chatbot.
Following Google's earlier commercial failure of Google Glass, an earlier head-worn product, Google acquired VR companies Tilt Brush and Owlchemy Labs and made other ventures into head-worn computing products including the Google Cardboard and Google Daydream VR headsets, which were both eventually discontinued. In 2021, Google revived its XR efforts with a project internally codenamed Project Iris, an AR headset powered by a new operating system. However, Google shelved the project after Apple released the Vision Pro VR headset in 2024. One year later, Google announced Android XR as Project Iris' spiritual successor.
Earlier in 2022, Google executives had grown alarmed by reports on Apple's progress on the Vision Pro, which surpassed their own. The company struck a partnership with Android collaborator Samsung, in which they would develop the software for an MR headset manufactured by Samsung, codenamed Project Moohan. Tensions soon arose between the two companies, with Samsung consolidating its control over the project to prevent Google from building a rival product. "Moohan" is a reference to the Korean word for infinity. Google also acquired Raxium, an AR hardware startup, for approximately $1 billion in March 2022, which was completed a month later.
After Iris' cancellation, Google shifted its focus from hardware to software, which they hoped to license to third-party Android manufacturers. Lucovsky left the company and Shahram Izadi assumed leadership of Google's AR division, reporting to Google senior vice president Hiroshi Lockheimer. A new team under Izadi began incorporating Iris' code into a new project codenamed Betty, intended to be part of a "Micro XR" platform that would be pitched to manufacturers. The former Raxium team continued to explore potential AR hardware projects under Greco's supervision, but was reportedly "firewalled" from the Moohan and Betty crews. A Google employee described the situation as "a weird bureaucratic mess".
Meanwhile, at the annual Google I/O keynote in May 2024, Google demonstrated a pair of prototype smartglasses powered by Project Astra, a multimodal "AI assistant" from Google DeepMind that uses the Gemini Ultra large language model. These smartglasses were visually distinct from the Project Iris prototype demonstrated at I/O two years prior, indicating they were separate projects. In a rare public appearance, Google co-founder Sergey Brin called the glasses "the perfect hardware" for artificial intelligence (AI), acknowledging that Glass had been ahead of its time: "Unfortunately, we sort of messed up on the timing. I sort of wish I timed it a bit better." Following the event, Business Insider reported that Google's XR platform would be named Android XR, was targeting an early 2025 launch, and would leverage Raxium's optical technology.
Contrasting Android XR with the Vision Pro, Izadi and Android chief Sameer Samat emphasized the Open platform nature of Google's approach, as opposed to Apple's walled garden strategy. Victoria Song of The Verge compared the experience of wearing these glasses to J.A.R.V.I.S., a fictional AI in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac and Mark Gurman of Bloomberg News noted Moohan's visual resemblance to the Vision Pro. Several journalists who attended the announcement reflected on Google's decade-long journey from Glass to the present day.
|
|
