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Code discovered in a recent Google Play update indicates the company may soon roll out support for XR headsets on its Android app store, which would mark a decisive shift in the competitive landscape. Samsung is building the hardware, Qualcomm the chipset, and Google the Android-based XR operating system.
Google is reportedly set to acquire Canada-based eye-tracking startup AdHawk Microsystems Inc. As reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Google is allegedly acquiring AdHawk for$115 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. This isn’t the first time AdHawk has flirted with an acquisition by a key XR player.
Last week, Google delivered its most important event of the year, the Google I/O. Of course, AI has been the star of the show , with the public release of Google Bard and the announcement of a new language model, but there have been also interesting pieces of news about XR.
Top news of the week (Image by Google) Google announced Android XR The most important news of the week, and one of the most important of the whole year, has been the official announcement by Google of Android XR. Google has entered the field, bringing new validation to XR, and also new competition in the space.
Bernard Kress, principal optical architect on Microsoft’s HoloLens team, has left the company to take on the role of Director of XR Engineering at the recently formed Google Labs. Now Kress is back at Mountain View working on Google’s next AR headset.
The other part of the problem is due, as per my speculation, to Meta wanting absolutely to take this out before Apple could release its headse t, to have a first-mover advantage over it. Meta confirms Quest 3 is coming in 2023. We were all suspecting it, but now it is official: Meta has announced that Quest 3 is coming in 2023.
Top news of the week (Image by Google) AI models to generate 3D scenes start to surface This week we had the announcement of two AI models dedicated to the generation of 3D worlds. These glasses should be built in partnership with Google and Qualcomm and have a similar form factor to the successful Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, the company’s work-focused version of its iconic but once maligned smartglasses, is being discontinued. Google says in a device support FAQ that, starting March 15th, it will no longer sell Glass Enterprise 2, adding that it will only support the device until September 15th, 2023.
This week Samsung and Google confirmed their forthcoming “XR platform” will be announced this year, though it’s unclear if it will actually launch before the end of 2024. It was early 2023 when Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm first announced their collaboration on an “XR platform” based on Android.
Apple Announces Vision Pro Image courtesy Apple The News Apple announced is Vision Pro headset in June of 2023 marking the company’s first public step into the XR headset space. Apple also boldly announced the headset’s staggering $3,500 price, despite a launch date set for nearly a year later.
Hugo Swart, previous head of Qualcomm’s XR division, announced he’s joined Google where he’ll lead the company’s XR Ecosystem Strategy and Technology efforts. Google is also rumored to be developing a “Micro XR” platform for XR glasses, which is said to use a prototyping platform internally known as “Betty.”
In the interview with me, he talked about many topics, like the rumors he heard on Apple Glasses, on the Oculus Quest 2 , the America vs China war, XR entrepreneurship, Tesla, and more! 2022-2023 are the years when VR should grow a lot (Image by Road To VR). Apple is (maybe) already testing Apple Glasses in the wild.
Apple still has a team at a "secretive facility" developing microLED displays intended for AR glasses, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. The facility is in Santa Clara, 15 minutes away from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino. Realistically, it could be some time next decade. Realistically, it could be some time next decade.
Samsung’s 2023 Unpacked event was all about the company’s Galaxy S23 hardware, although at the end of its hour-long presentation the South Korean tech giant announced it was working with Qualcomm and Google to develop an XR device. Samsung was one of the first truly massive tech companies to develop VR hardware.
More info (Official statement by Mark Zuckerberg) More info (Meta to lay off 10,000 people — Road To VR) More info (Meta to lay off 10,000 people — Upload VR) More info (Meta focusing more on AI — Yahoo Finance) More info (Meta focusing more on AI — CNN) Other relevant news Google is discontinuing Glass It’s the end of an era.
Samsung’s upcoming XR headset, which is meant to compete with Apple Vision Pro, has been delayed by “one to two quarters” from its reported early 2024 release target, according to an SBS Biz (Korean) report. That’s apparently been delayed by about “one to two quarters,” or three to six months.
New reports highlight some episodes of the life of Apple XR glasses. This week The Information has written a long report about the history of Apple XR glasses. Since the hardware is almost ready, the company is now ramping up the development of the actual rOS (Reality OS) operating system, for the launch that may happen in 2023.
Meta CTO Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth says the company would “love” to have some sort of Discord integration on Quest in the future, pending interest from Discord, that is—once again highlighting the fact that Quest really just needs Google Play. It may be getting ready to compete with the help of Samsung.
A VPS system detecting visual features in the surrounding environment (Image by Google) VPS stands for Visual Positioning System. GPS together with the sensors on the phone is all that we need to orient ourselves on a 2D map like Google Maps that we use every day. What is VPS? How do you develop an application using VPS?
Many studios are claiming losses in the order of magnitude of 5080% if compared to what they were able to obtain in 2023. The controllers would be sold separately and would be fully optional, mostly dedicated to people who want to play games requiring controllers on the Apple Vision Pro. I think this is great news. Happy Birthday, GT!
After the announcement of the release date of the Apple Vision Pro, the whole community is just waiting for its preorders to open up this Friday. The headset will be sold in physical stores and on the Apple website. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple has only 60–80K units available at this time , so most likely they’ll go sold out.
I’ve read a lot of articles and XR news this week, but actually, at the end of the day, nothing relevant has happened, except for the usual rumor about Apple… so you can close this roundup now… no ok, I’m kidding! This doesn’t sound to me very “Apple”. And by the way, on the personal side, things are going well for me!
The launch of Apple Vision Pro is in some ways the most significant event for the XR industry since the acquisition of Oculus by Meta back in 2014. With Apple bringing new ideas to the table, the headset has prompted reflections on the XR industry up to this point and where things are headed.
First of all, Google has to keep the work on the headset very secret also internally , because Samsung is afraid that Google will steal its expertise to build a competing product. Google is working in parallel to build the Android XR operating system for this headset and a Micro XR operating system for AR glasses.
The success of the Ray-Ban Meta has triggered the smartglasses hype: when I was at CES, I saw many startups launching their AI-powered smartglasses and we have heard rumors of all the major brands (including Apple and Samsung) working on their own smartglasses devices, too. But as usual, I warn you to be careful of the hype.
But AR/VR solutions are not limited to Google Glass, mobile apps for trying on shoes or accessories, and AR-based games. billion by 2023 , growing at a CAGR of 9.98% from 2017 to 2023. Thanks to GPS-based location support, users are now able to receive directions or traffic updates from Google Maps. Sponsored content.
The approach chosen by Meta is similar to the one that Google promised to take with Android XR. This means that Samsung wont go all-in with hand tracking like Apple did. This will let Google enrich its content library pretty fast. It is not clear if the controllers will be shipped in the headset box or not , though.
The Digital Markets Act is a law that the European Parliament and Commission are discussing since 2020 and has the purpose of limiting the excessive power of the major tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta. We can expect so all big tech companies to comply with it in 2023. Fairer competition.
Apple announces ARKit 4, amongst new rumors of XR headsets. The story goes on telling that Apple VR headset had realistic visuals and sound, it was super-cool and probably we’ll see a release date of 2022/2023. More info (New rumors about Apple and XR) More info (Apple ARKit4). We all can’t wait.
Apple glasses are coming in 2021–2022 and they are incredibly sleek. Apple glasses are coming. The glasses are expected to run a new operating system, rOS (or reality OS), and Apple is exploring touch panels, voice activation, and head gestures as a means of control. Apple is really good at selling stuff.
The time has finally come: on the last day of 2023, Praydog has released to the world his first version of UEVR, a universal VR mod for all games made with Unreal Engine. And this week I got to read that the device may use Google Soli for finger tracking. And another hug to whoever supported me on Patreon.
More info Some news about Apple Vision Pro The news and rumors about Vision Pro never end. In these two weeks, we got to discover that Apple is planning to organize demo sessions of Vision Pro inside the Apple Store venues and that in the beginning, the only way to buy a Vision Pro will be going to an Apple Store.
Since there is the possibility that Apple announces its headset soon, all the companies are rushing to announce what they have in the pipeline before the big day. Most likely that will be the name of its operating system The headset should be launched at WWDC according to all the most relevant Apple analysts. It’s been a strange week.
Apple is working on some sort of metaverse, and its headset is entering mass production. It has been a week of interesting rumors about the upcoming Apple MR headset. So, forget about an Apple headset that is going to enter the mainstream , as I already sold in this previous article. Other relevant news. Some news on content.
More info (Roblox is coming to Quest — Road To VR) More info (Roblox is coming to Quest — Upload VR) More info (Roblox on Quest may increase scrutiny on the platform) Other relevant news (Image by WIRED) Mark Lucovsky has left Google Mark Lucovsky has just left Google. More info iVRy makes the PSVR2 work with SteamVR!
A new cycle of XR The Apple Vision Pro launch has been a disruptive moment for our industry (Image by Apple) As I said in a popular post a few months ago , I think we have entered a new cycle for immersive realities. Huawei and Pico are rumored to be working on an Apple Vision Pro competitor).
Google has reportedly shelved a multi-year project that sought to commercialize an AR headset, known as Project Iris. Provided the report is true, it appears Google will now need to rely on Samsung to compete with Meta and Apple in XR. And Google’s ambitions were, let’s say, very big.
As I said a few months ago , we are in the middle of a paradigm change: the cycle that started with the Quest is arriving at an end, and a new cycle driven by new technologies (mixed reality headsets) and new players (Apple, Google) is starting. They are Apple AR glasses!” I have this impression for a few reasons.
Brand spending on sponsored mobile AR lenses is a bright spot, as is Apple AR glasses rumors. After covering the ‘What, When & Why’ of Apple’s AR play, what about the “here and now” AR Opportunity? billion by 2023. This is true if counting Apple (ARkit) and Google (ARcore) compatibility.
In the last couple of years, AR has experienced tremendous growth and popularity as big technology giants like Google, Amazon, Apple have adopted the technology. According to Statista , by 2023, there will be 1.4 The leading OEMs such as Samsung and Apple are expected to contribute to manufacturing more AR devices.
We were all waiting for an Apple announcement, hoping that it could bring back some enthusiasm into the field, and it seems that the Vision Pro is having some beneficial effects , indeed. Apple showed investors that XR is not a fad, and even if it is still in its early stages, it is going to stay. appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
The glasses, codenamed Orion, should be made to replace smartphones and are slated for a release date of 2023–2025, that seems very reasonable, considering that no present tech is able to create truly consumer AR. We may know the field of view of Apple AR headset. All of this seems cool, but also very confused. Its peculiarity?
Top news of the week (Image by Google) Samsung XR headset may have been delayed The new rumor in town is that Samsung has delayed its upcoming headset that it is building in partnership with Google and Qualcomm. It’s been another interesting week in immersive realities, so let’s see what happened in our field in the past few days!
2B has been spent in total on the Quest Store, and in 2024, the spending has actually increased by 12% compared to 2023. The only glimpse of something XR-related has been the cloud streaming of some complex 3D model to Apple Vision Pro via Omniverse. As usual, competition is good to bring new features.
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