Editor-DN
AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich thinks about all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and more.
Google announced Android XR in a surprise event in December 2024, unveiling the first version of Android built for AR and VR devices. Just like the term “smartphone” covers many different form factors – slabs, folding phones, etc. – XR is a combination of AR and VR under one umbrella term.
While Android XR is a little late to the game, Google has an opportunity to learn from Meta and Apple. From what we’ve seen so far, Android XR looks to be the perfect blend between Meta’s Horizon OS, which powers Apple’s Vision OS on the Meta Quest headsets, and the Apple Vision Pro.
But while Google seems to have the operating system aspects figured out, we still don’t have a proper product announcement. That’s going to change in 2025, and I fully expect at least one flagship VR/mixed reality headset and one of AR glasses. The couple starts a business. We also know of some other projects in the works, so what you can expect from Android XR in 2025.
Xreal
The first major Android XR product launch I expect in 2025 is from Xreal. The company has already established itself as the market leader in the smart display glasses segment and has launched two fully standalone smart glasses products till date – Beam, and Beam Pro. Beam Pro redefined the company’s standalone solution in 2024, and I’m sure Xreal will continue to build on that concept with its first Android XR product.
The Xreal Beam Pro looks like an Android smartphone with dual ports on the bottom. I expect the first pair of Android XR-powered smart glasses from Xreal to replace this design with a “compute pick” like the Meta Orion is using. I don’t expect it to be wireless like Orion’s pick, as Xreal will likely prioritize battery life and comfort by putting the battery in the compute pick.
I also don’t think the ComputePic will feature a display, since Android XR is designed to show the XR user interface instead of the traditional flat-screen Android UI. Thus, the puck will only work when the glasses are attached, as such Its an Xreal powered laptop which was cancelled.
I still expect the glasses to have a custom piece of silicon inside, similar to the company’s recently updated smart display glasses, the Xreal One. The Xreal One has an optional camera coming soon, but I expect Xreal’s first Android XR glasses to have cameras built in for full spatial tracking. I got a glimpse of that future at MWC 2024 when I got my hands on the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, which features a very beta custom UI, full 6DoF tracking, and initial hand tracking support.
Xreal Android XR Glasses will almost certainly use a compute pick that sits in your pocket or is clipped somewhere else on your body.
With Android XR powering the experience, hand tracking will be flawless and the UI will look beautiful. I have a lot of faith in Xreal’s ability to deliver the best hardware at this point, and fully expect Xreal’s Android XR glasses to seriously challenge the Meta Orion.
While the ultimate goal of the Android XR smart glasses will almost certainly be to replace your phone, I think early versions from companies like Xreal will primarily focus on providing a neck-saving experience for entertainment and productivity on the go. will be focused.
When will we see Xreal Android XR glasses? I’m sure we’ll see them debut at Google I/O 2025, which is usually held in May. Google I/O is the company’s annual developer conference, and what better way to encourage development of a new Android platform than to fully debut it and a new set of products at a developer conference. Go? I can’t think of one.
Samsung
According to leaks over the years, Samsung and Google originally planned to launch their first mixed reality headset powered by Android XR in the second half of 2024. That all changed when Apple unveiled the Vision Pro in the summer of 2023, apparently forcing Samsung to do so. Go back to the drawing board to create an even more awesome device.
The result is Project Mohan. We don’t know its final product name yet but we do know that Samsung plans to release it commercially later this year. It’s a full year late, but that definitely means we’re going to have a better product because of it.
Samsung aims to deliver an innovative product that combines the MetaQuest Pro and the Apple Vision Pro into one (hopefully) more affordable headset. It sports the same goggle-like element as those two products and even uses the same magnetic light blocker system and halo-style strap as the Quest Pro, which I still find the best for long-term use. Looks like a more comfortable VR headset.
Because Samsung waited a bit, it’s able to solve the biggest problems with the Vision Pro and Quest Pro, namely by providing an ideal balance between price, performance and long-term comfort. Additionally, unlike Apple, Samsung will launch its headset with motion-tracked controllers instead of relying solely on hand tracking.
Google is using Job Simulator developers to help give its headset a unique personality that we’ll see later this year.
Already in its long history with XR development, Google has acquired Owlchemy Labs — creators of the immensely popular job simulator VR game — to create the onboarding experience for Android XR. Owlchemy created this new experience in the job simulator world and, appropriately, it’s called in (work).
Google’s use of Owlchemy Labs for this project feels like “good old Google” where it was fun to build projects and put lots of characters into them. This, combined with Samsung’s hardware prowess and what we’ve seen of the incredibly polished Android XR, gives me high hopes that we’ll finally have a match to the Meta’s seemingly unstoppable Quest 3 dominance. A good standalone VR headset would be the way to go.
While Project Mohan is just a prototype, the hands-on demos at Google’s Android XR event give us a good idea of what to expect when the final headset makes its debut, which I hope it does. A second Samsung Unpacked is expected in summer 2025. This is usually where Samsung unveils its latest foldable phones, smartwatches and other wearable devices, which should include a wearable hybrid this year. Reality headset.
Everyone else
Google has also partnered with Sony, Lynx, and Magic Leap to debut Android XR devices in the near future, but we don’t know anything about what any of these companies are working on. . At least, I can guess what each company can do based on existing products.
Magic Leap will, of course, create a new pair of AR glasses that run on Android XR instead of the OS that powers the current Magic Leap glasses. Magic Leap was the first AR company to partner with Google last year to help build Android XR. It makes sense, then, that Magic Leap would at least tease a new pair of AR glasses this year.
Sony is primarily known in the XR space for PlayStation VR, but the company also announced a new mixed reality headset for enterprise users last January but it hasn’t been properly released yet. That headset – now called Sony XYN — is powered by the same Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset that powers Samsung’s Project Mohan (detailed above), so it would make sense for Sony to use Google’s new XR OS. Make another version of this headset and give it a bigger audience than who it is. Made for now.
Three other major companies, Lynx, Sony, and Magic Leap, are also expected to debut Android XR products this year, but they may not make it to store shelves.
And that just leaves Lynx. The company’s first headset, the Lynx R1Soft-launched to a handful of early backers in the spring of 2024. The headset features the latest “no latency” mixed reality approach and is also powered by the Snapdragon XR2 chipset, although the R1 never went into mass production.
It’s entirely possible that the company is working with Google to launch a headset proper built on similar tech to the R1 but using a new Snapdragon chipset and Android XR on the backend. . This gives the company the app support it needs to ensure a rich experience and helps Google launch a healthy Android XR product portfolio by the end of 2025.
Filling the gap
Android XR feels like the launch of Android in 2008. Mostly Android Original public announcement Talked about how fragmented the space was and how one company (Google) could bring them all together with one OS that helped set standards and define the user experience.
Meta is trying to do the same thing at the same time, but Google has nearly 2 decades of experience building a platform that works on thousands of devices. The company can absolutely deliver on its promise of an OS that bridges the gap between different hardware types and delivers an immersive experience for whatever you want to do, and we can’t wait to see. Can see what the first original product brings this year.
