Android XR is an

extended reality Extended reality (XR) is both an umbrella term to refer to and interpolate between augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), as well as to extrapolate (extend) beyond these, e.g. allowing us to see sound waves, rad ...

(XR)

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

developed by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

.It 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 Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to c ...

developed by

Google DeepMind DeepMind Technologies Limited, trading as Google DeepMind or simply DeepMind, is a British–American artificial intelligence research laboratory which serves as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Founded in the UK in 2010, it was acquired by Goo ...

. Android XR is heavily integrated with the

Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...

generative artificial intelligence Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models Machine learning, learn the underlyin ...

–powered

chatbot A chatbot (originally chatterbot) is a software application or web interface designed to have textual or spoken conversations. Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of main ...

. Following Google's earlier commercial failure of

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a discontinued brand of smart glasses developed by Google's X Development (formerly Google X), with a mission of producing a ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using a head-u ...

, 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 Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and developm ...

and

Google Daydream Daydream is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform which was developed by Google, primarily for use with a headset into which a smartphone is inserted. It is available for select phones running the Android mobile operating system (versi ...

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 An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

released the

Vision Pro The Apple Vision Pro is a mixed reality, mixed-reality headset developed by Apple Inc., Apple. It was announced on June 5, 2023, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and was released first in the US, then in global territories thr ...

VR headset in 2024. One year later, Google announced Android XR as Project Iris'

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...

History

Background

Development

In January 2022, ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' reported that Google was building an AR headset as part of an effort internally codenamed Project Iris and overseen by Bavor. This coincided with Google rival

's own initiative to develop a

mixed reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

(MR) headset. After Apple outmaneuvered Google by unveiling its headset, the

, in June 2023, which frustrated employees, ''Business Insider'' reported that Project Iris had been canceled as part of Google's company-wide cost-cutting measures earlier in the year, which saw mass layoffs and the departure of Bavor. 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

, 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 A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

, 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 Shahram () is a masculine Persian given name. The name is made of two parts, 'shah' meaning king and 'raam'. "raam" has two potential meaning in Old Persian and Zoroastrianin : as the angel of benevolent or shortened version of Rama Ram ...

assumed leadership of Google's AR division, reporting to Google

senior vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice ...

Hiroshi Lockheimer Hiroshi Lockheimer (born 1975) is a Japanese-American software engineer and business executive. He is one of the founding members of the Android team at Google, which was created after Google acquired the mobile operating system. At Google, Lo ...

. 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 Google I/O, or simply I/O, is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. The name "I/O" is taken from the number googol, with the "I" representing the first digit "1" in a googol and the "O" representing the s ...

keynote in May 2024, Google demonstrated a pair of prototype smartglasses powered by Project Astra, a multimodal "AI assistant" from

that uses the

Gemini Ultra Gemini is a family of multimodal large language models (LLMs) developed by Google DeepMind, and the successor to LaMDA and PaLM 2. Comprising Gemini Ultra, Gemini Pro, Gemini Flash, and Gemini Nano, it was announced on December 6, 2023, pos ...

large language model A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. The largest and most capable LLMs are g ...

. 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 Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (; born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on D ...

called the glasses "the perfect hardware" for

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

(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.

Launch

Google announced the Android XR operating system on December 12, 2024, in New York City, with plans to launch it on Samsung's Moohan headset the following year. Viewed as the successor to Glass,

Cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. Their construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard, made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown ...

, and

Daydream Daydreaming is a stream of consciousness that detaches from current external tasks when one's attention becomes focused on a more personal and internal direction. Various names of this phenomenon exist, including mind-wandering, fantasies, a ...

, the operating system was developed in collaboration with Samsung and

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

and is heavily integrated with

, Google's

generative AI Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models learn the underlying patterns and str ...

–powered

. In addition to Moohan, Google unveiled the Project Astra smartglasses it had previously demoed, also powered by Android XR and aiming for a 2025 release, though no definite timeline was set for the latter. The glasses employ Raxium's

microLED MicroLED, also known as micro-LED, mLED or μLED is an emerging flat-panel display technology consisting of arrays of microscopic Light-emitting diode, LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. Inorganic semiconductor microLED (μLED) technol ...

technology, allowing for "bright images without using a lot of power". 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 A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

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 The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

, and Ryan Christoffel of ''

9to5Mac ''9to5Mac'' is a website covering news and rumors about Apple Inc. and its products. Founded by Seth Weintraub, the website is the oldest in Weintraub's 9to5 network of tech blogs, which also includes ''9to5Google'', ''9to5Toys'', ''DroneDJ'', ...

'' and Mark Gurman of

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

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.

References

External links