Xreal and Google debut aura AR glasses to rival Meta’s Orion plan

By Mark Gurman Bloomeberg Alphabet s Google has entered the glasses race by partnering with Xreal Inc on the first spectacles to run an augmented-reality version of its operating system At the Google I O conference on Tuesday the search giant and Chinese smart glasses maker displayed developers what they call Project Aura the first eyewear that will run Android XR Related Articles Amazon strikes deal with WeWork for big South Bay office building Watch Google outlines its big plans for the future of search Meta promised billion for affordable housing Then it quietly walked away Honda pulls back on EV strategy for now and will push hybrid sales Salesforce cuts Slack price for US regime following Google The new operating system was stated in December with the goal of mimicking the Android experience on a range of devices That includes enclosed mixed-reality headsets glasses with augmented reality or AR and spectacles with cameras but no ability to view content That month Google and Samsung Electronics Co teased a headset known as Project Moohan Besides the Xreal glasses Google also declared it s working with Samsung on glasses and will roll out a reference hardware platform for the device later this year The advancement confirms an earlier Bloomberg News summary Google is also working on glasses without AR in tandem with brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker That announcement sent Warby Parker shares up as much as their biggest intraday gain since In an interview Xreal co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Chi Xu explained the Samsung device is Google s response to Apple Inc s Vision Pro while his company s upcoming Android XR eyewear is meant to compete with augmented-reality glasses that Meta Platforms Inc is working on Last year Meta revealed off prototype glasses codenamed Orion and it plans to bring a consumer version to field dubbed Artemis by Bloomberg News has informed In the meantime it will roll out updated smart glasses this year with a small display a step toward full AR The Aura glasses are expected to launch for consumers between the end of this year and early next year Xu announced Samsung and Meta haven t released pricing for their upcoming devices but they re likely to cost multiple thousands of dollars Project Aura should be considerably cheaper Xu revealed The company s current AR glasses which plug into a phone through a cable range from to Separately Meta has had success selling non-AR smart glasses co-branded with Ray-Ban A version with a built-in display is likely to be priced in the to range when they launch this year We can easily build more advanced and more affordable hardware than Orion Xu reported This is something we re really good at What we re missing is the content Project Aura will be a lightweight optical-see-through device that gives users access to their favorite Android apps commented Shahram Izadi general manager and vice president of XR at Google who added that it will be available for developers first so they can begin creating experiences overlaid in the real world with the familiar tools they use to build Android apps Like Meta s Orion prototype the Xreal Android XR glasses will be powered by a separate puck that houses the main processor which is made by Qualcomm Inc They ll have another chip inside the head unit itself for processing tasks that require low latency such as images Xu stated the long-term vision is to shift the computational load from a puck to a connected phone But for now the puck serves an central priority of AR device makers to make their products as light and cheap as viable Android XR is key to Google s future as it looks to new bets to augment its Android business for smartphones The company has also expanded its operating systems to TVs cars and smart home devices with plans to adapt the underlying machinery for robots as well Google is a laggard in the mixed-reality space which melds AR with virtual reality but a demo of its Moohan prototype with Samsung last year exhibited promise Google is taking the same approach it has with phones in the past looking to partner with key hardware brands rather than starting off with in-house devices In a similar arrangement to the tie-up with Samsung Google is providing the AR operating system while Xreal is progressing the Aura glasses hardware on its own Related Articles DoorDash ends AI voice-ordering product for restaurants Apple to Open AI models to developers betting that it will spur new apps San Jose Oakland San Francisco downtown office markets stay weak of California learner loans are delinquent Sales of zero-emission vehicles in California slow down Apple on the other hand has stuck to its typical formula and developed both its Vision Pro headset and the accompanying visionOS operating system Apple is working to launch its own augmented-reality eyewear in the future It s also planning a stepping-stone product for around that would rival Meta s screenless smart Ray-Bans Bloomberg News has disclosed Samsung is working on glasses as well If you look at the iPhone when it was first introduced it had the best hardware and a stunning operating system Xu noted adding that he believes early adopters will use the upcoming glasses for both entertainment and productivity purposes Right now we have both at this moment by working with Google This is the best marriage you can get for AR and AI