• Google has announced its new open-source Android XR operating system, which is designed for extended reality (XR) headsets and glasses.
• The first Android XR device to hit the market, codenamed Project Moohan, will be in collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm.

• Android XR also integrates Gemini AI to enhance the user experience with features like AI assistance and voice commands.

Google has a rich history in the fields of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), going back to 2013, when it introduced the ambitious head-mounted AR display with Google Glass. But as in the case with many tech products, it was ahead of its time, with limited use cases.

In 2014, Google took a step back to launch the most affordable VR headset in the form of Cardboard. It was a DIY-type headset made of cardboard, and available for as low as $6-$10.

This was followed by Daydream, a high-end mobile VR platform that came with a controller, in 2016. But it failed to gain widespread adoption. Around the same time, Samsung announced its Gear VR headset with the Galaxy S6 launch. This was in partnership with Oculus to bring the platform’s app ecosystem to the users.

Now, as the XR market looks a little mature, at least in terms of tech, thanks to Apple Vision Pro, Meta’s Quest series MR (mixed reality) headsets and advancements in GenAI technologies, the time seems to be ripe for Google to introduce its Android XR platform. It is a new operating system from Google designed to run on devices like headsets and glasses.

Current XR OS restrictions

• Apple has its Vision OS, restricted to Apple Vision Pro.
• Meta has its own OS, which is again only for Meta devices.

• AR/VR/MR devices from Pico, XREAL and HTC, to name a few, also have their proprietary operating systems and own app stores.

Bringing a familiar Android base to ease app development

With Android XR, the idea is to bring a unified platform, giving developers a consistent environment to build apps for these new reality devices. As the base is Android, it leverages the strength of the already existing ecosystem, making it easier for developers to build apps and also port existing ones to XR devices. With the Android XR OS, Google is looking to create the ‘smartphone’ moment, like it did with Android, allowing OEMs to build devices without worrying about the underlying software.

Android XR with Gemini AI at heart

At the heart of the Android XR experience is Gemini AI, which could be a killer app for the form factor. Together with multimodal capabilities of AI, and features like audio and video capture as seen in the Ray-ban Meta Smart Glasses, the Android XR-powered headsets and glasses could make even more sense. Things definitely look more exciting going into 2025. It will be keenly watched how Google, along with its OEM partners, integrates AI into our daily lives with this new form factor.

As seen with Meta AI on Ray-ban Meta smart glasses, you can ask Gemini AI about the surroundings, navigation, real-time translation, managing your schedule and much more. We can already envision the Friday AI-powered Stark glasses as seen in Avengers: Infinity War and Spiderman: Far from Home movies.

Not making hardware but working with partners to create ecosystem

This time around, Google will not be making the hardware, but will focus on its core strength – software. At the Samsung Galaxy 24 launch, Samsung announced a partnership with Google and Qualcomm for the AR headset codenamed Project Moohan. It is set to launch sometime in 2025.

Google is also working with other partners like Lynx, Sony and XREAL to bring the Android XR platform to other OEMs, and thus reach an even wider audience with products catering to different price bands and form factors. This could be the much-needed move the XR industry had been waiting for – to have a unified platform. But, as we have seen in the case of Android smartphones, Android XR could also create a fragmentation issue while bringing healthy competition to the space.

But this time it’s different

When Google launched Android OS, it was the transition phase where customers were looking to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones. Unfortunately, that is not the case today as XR devices carry a premium price tag, a high entry barrier for many. Also, not everyone would be comfortable wearing these bulky headsets all the time, so close to their face and eyes, for long hours.

On the other hand, the success of lightweight Ray-ban Meta smart glasses does show some promise, potentially paving the way for glasses that integrate an optical see-through system as a heads-up display (HUD) to enable the true AR experience. However, the adoption of XR and smart glass devices could still be limited to enthusiasts, developers and enterprises, rather than consumers and end users, at this point.