This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
This week, we look at Microoft's big deal, Apple's Metaverse shun and Google jumps back into AR. Welcome back to Spatial Beats, AR Insider's weekly series that features observations and insights of author and futurist Charlie Fink. This post appeared first on AR Insider.
The XR landscape has changed significantly over the last five years with the flourishing of standalone headsets and new entrants like Apple and (soon) Google. Not only that, you’d have to convince me that Apple would dive head-first into the market with its own headset… and it would cost $3,500!
According to a report from Korean tech outlet The Elec , Microsoft has contracted Samsung to supply micro OLED display panels for what is described as “next-generation mixed reality devices.” Samsung and Google confirmed in July their forthcoming “XR platform” will be announced sometime this year.
We’ve been waiting to hear about Samsung’s entrance into XR for a few years now, with the company’s still unnamed mixed reality headset ‘Project Moohan’ set to debut sometime this year running Google’s Android XR operating system.
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.
How many XR headsets is Apple working on, and when can we get our hands one them? Finally, why in the name of the geek gods is Google shutting down Poly? Google’s own Tilt Brush, an important content creation tool, relies on Poly. Tilt Brush co-creator Patrick Hackett just left Google, too. Not a good sign.
He has a very interesting working story, having worked for great companies like Microsoft and Fast Company. 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! VR is not only for enterprise.
Microsoft announces Mesh, an XR collaboration platform. Alex Kipman promised us a Microsoft Ignite conference with an amazing level of immersion , and he kept his word. But since Microsoft owns one of those studios (and using it costs around $100K/day if I remember well!), You are all fantastic! Here you are my flower for you!
Google is adding to its portfolio of XR microdisplay designs and talent, as the company announced it’s acquired microLED (µLED) designer Raxium. The Information’s report held Raxium was sold to Google for $1 billion, however official details of the acquisition are still murky. Image courtesy Raxium, Google.
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.
It seems now that many of Magic Leap’s recently laid-off employees are helping Apple with its own AR headset ambitions. The flow from Magic Leap to Apple has been a constant one too, Protocol has found. Like with all things Apple, hardly nothing is clear about its upcoming AR headset. Image courtesy Protocol.
Meta announces at Connect Quest Pro and a partnership with Microsoft. There have been a few key announcements at Connect: Meta has launched Quest Pro , its new premium headset, for $1500 Meta announced its focus on a new vertical, productivity Meta has partnered with Microsoft and Accenture to tackle the XR enterprise world.
For example, Apple’s wearables are seeing strong revenue growth and offsetting smartphone revenue deceleration in the near term. After examining Amazon and Microsoft , it’s time to zero in on Google. For Google that of course means search. In fact, Apple’s Achilles heel for AirPods is the famously inept Siri.
Microsoft’s enterprise-focused HoloLens 3 may be dead in the water, as a recent report maintains that internal divisions have hobbled the company’s efforts to release its next AR headset as planned. Alex Kipman wearing HoloLens 2, Image courtesy Microsoft. Microsoft Responds.
That could be wayfinding with Google Live View , or visual search with Google Lens. As you can tell from the above examples, Google will have a key stake in this “Internet of Places.” Apple signals interest in location-relevant AR through its geo-anchors and Project Gobi. continuing here with Microsoft.
In terms of compatibility, the platform is cross-compatible with nearly every major VR & AR device, including the HTC Vive, Oculus Quest 2, Microsoft HoloLens 2, as well as AR-enabled iOS and Android devices; it’s never been easier to take your friends’ money!
Can you afford to invest in premium options, like the Apple Vision Pro, or the Pico 4 Enterprise Ultra? Others prioritize flexibility for instance Google recently announced the creation of its Android XR system, which supports open standards. Whatever your use case, remember to prioritize ease of use, comfort, and ergonomics.
Apple’s significant impact on the market tends to draw attention from companies that might not have otherwise entered a specific product category—aka “The Apple Effect.” So why Apple, and why now? So why Apple, and why now? And that’s in spite of its $3,500 price tag.
Furthermore, the comparison with Microsoft doesn’t hold well: Microsoft was a software company that just didn’t have high standards, so it made products with many bugs. Apple way be working on a VR headset. According to Bloomberg, next year Apple is going to release a VR headset with limited passthrough AR functionalities.
This puts Meta in an entirely new position as a platform holder, as it now seems the company is trying to beat Google at its own game. Apple vs. Microsoft. Apple vs. Google. And you know what, it just might win. It’s a tale as old as time.
Microsoft debuts their latest mixed reality device at Mobile World Conference 2019. Over these past three and a half years, Microsoft has been listening to their customers, claims HoloLens inventor and Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman as he took his turn on stage. Microsoft HoloLens 2 / Image Credit: Microsoft.
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.
Khronos Group , the consortium behind the OpenXR project which aims to standardize the way applications communicate with AR and VR headsets, just added Microsoft to its ranks. Among its count of members, the OpenXR working group consisted of nearly every major player in the industry except Microsoft until now.
Colocating a Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro for same-room mixed reality works with Figmin XR. 0:00 / 0:34 1× The app is in closed beta for Apple Vision Pro and we're in active communication with creator Javier Davalos to get a link to the app's listing on Apple's storefront as soon as it is available.
For example, Apple’s wearables are seeing strong revenue growth and offsetting smartphone revenue deceleration in the near term. After examining Amazon last week, it’s time to zero in on Microsoft. In addition to standard audio fare like music and phone calls, they’ll integrate natively with Microsoft products like Office.
Google Project Starline finally looks like it’s going to be rolling out to workplaces worldwide, potentially transforming the way we meet and collaborate in the future of work. Microsoft has its Mesh solution, and Immersive Spaces on Teams, designed to pull people into powerful virtual experiences during meetings.
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). Google experiments on Lightfields streaming.
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.
Later this year, Microsoft is increasing the cut developers earn when publishing on the Microsoft Store. Microsoft says in a blog post that gaming apps won’t see the raise from the standard percentage, which at the time of this writing is a standard 70/30 split. Check out more details on the Microsoft blog post.
As reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman ; the Apple visionOS 2.4 This marks an evolution evolution in the company’s mixed reality strategy, as Apple recently ceased development of its planned Mac-ready AR smart glasses to focus exclusively on Vision Pro. Professional Applications of the VisionOS 2.4
The glasses should work with Google Gemini AI and have the following features: Processors : Snapdragon AR1 and NXP Camera : 12MP with Sony IMX681 Battery : 155mAh Weight : 50 grams The first batch of production should be around 500,000 units , with more to come if the glasses prove to be successful.
At least from the outside, it appears Microsoft isn’t actively competing for a seat at the XR table, which is fairly odd coming from a company that pioneered enterprise AR while simultaneously wrangling some of its top OEM partners to make a fleet of PC VR headsets for consumers in 2017. If Microsoft goes in half-cocked, maybe.
As a long-time AR enthusiast, and one of the first to have tried Google Glass in Italy, I have to admit that I will consider AR mainstream only when it will be on glasses that we will wear all day , when we’ll live in a completely shared mixed reality world (the AR Cloud). Didn’t work (Image by Microsoft). Sounded good.
Zuck’s genius move before Google I/O I was kinda shocked reading this piece of news, but I was also quite happy because I’m all in for open platforms, and seeing finally Meta breaking the walls of its walled garden is for me a good thing. And with the operating system comes also Meta’s store.
Company’s like Apple and Meta are leaving Samsung in the virtual dust. While company’s such as Apple and Meta have already begun the development of their own dedicated XR devices, however, Samsung has continued to focus on expanding its lineup of foldable smartphones. respectively. respectively.
Apple claims the M4 has a 50% more powerful CPU an d 4 times more powerful GPU than the M2 chipset mounted on the Vision Pro, so an M5 chipset may give the new Vision Pro unprecedented performances for a standalone MR headset. There are more than 10 apps that are already compatible with it, like Figmin XR and Osso VR.
With Apple’s newly public interest in VR , developers from the company have join the W3C WebVR Community Group to have a say in the development of the WebVR standard. SEE ALSO Apple Adds VR Rendering Essentials to MacOS via Metal 2. SEE ALSO Apple's Job Listings Seek 'VR File Format Engineer', 'VR Pipeline Engineer', & More.
According to a Bloomberg story published this week, Apple hired Jeff Norris of NASA to work on augmented reality initiatives. Norris has reportedly been an employee of Apple since earlier in the year, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources. Apple is currently something of a sleeping giant in the immersive tech industry.
Just to make an example, I was there when there was the Netscape vs Internet Explorer war, but now the leading web browser is Google Chrome. Google Chrome, for instance, has been helped a lot by the fact that it is the pre-installed browser on all Android phones. Render of the possible upcoming Apple device (Image by Antonio DeRosa).
Googles AndroidXR Provides Developer Passthrough Access Recent news from the AndroidXR camp highlights a significant development advantage that some believe positions the new operating system ahead of the veteran firm Meta. The shark tank is growing, and leaders will emerge.
Developers have explored potential solutions in the past, such as Google Daydream’s ultra-fun Drum Keys or Logitech’s VR compatible keyboards. Similar to the Apple Watch or Fitbit, TapID is worn around the users wrist. There’s always voice-to-text, but that can be frustrating on a completely different level.
That could be wayfinding with Google Live View , geospatial gaming experiences from Niantic, or location-specific social AR experiences like Snap’s Local Lenses. Google has correspondingly benefited from SMBs and multi-location brands that want to position themselves in the direct path of high-intent local searchers.
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).
Picking up where we left off last week, Apple is leading the way with wearables, which is partly to set the stage for its rumored AR glasses. They’re driven to future-proof their core businesses; or – like Apple – to diversify revenue in the face of maturing cash cows. That includes Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Snap and others.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 3,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content