Google Confirms "AR Announcements" Coming At I/O In May As Android XR Reveal Expected

Google I/O 2024 takes place on May 14, and the company confirmed it will include “AR announcements”.

The company is expected to reveal more details about the Android XR platform it’s working on for Samsung’s upcoming headset.

Early last year Samsung officially announced it was working on an XR headset, with Google handling the system software via a new variant of Android and Qualcomm providing the chipset. Three months ago Qualcomm confirmed that this chip will be Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the base XR2 Gen 2 used in Meta Quest 3.

At last year’s I/O Google said it would “share more” about Android XR and Samsung partnership later that year, but that didn’t end up happening.

This may be because Samsung reportedly delayed and redesigned the headset in response to the reveal of Apple Vision Pro just one month after, which seemingly exceeded its expectations. It’s possible this also led Google to redesign or reconsider Android XR.

Google recently asked Meta to switch to Android XR for its Meta Quest headsets over its own Meta Quest OS, also based on Android, but Meta strongly declined.

Meta’s response is likely at least partly because this won’t be Google’s first Android-based XR platform for standalone headsets. Back in 2018 Google’s Daydream platform powered the $400 Lenovo Mirage Solo, but less than two years later Daydream was abandoned.

Late last year UploadVR reported that Samsung told developers it plans to launch in late 2024. Samsung’s plans could change between then and late 2024, however, as this will be the company’s first standalone headset. We reached out to Samsung at the time but did not receive a response.

While Samsung will be the first hardware maker to use Android XR, The Information reported that Google has also been pitching it to other hardware makers – though there have been no reports of other companies yet accepting. Meanwhile Meta too is courting hardware partners, recently netting LG.

We’ll bring you the news of any XR announcements at Google I/O on May 14.