Google and Samsung are once again unleashing their miracle twins, this time in the form of a brand new virtual and augmented reality platform called Android XR. The companies have revealed details of their plans for future headsets and glasses that will soon be available on the market. All of this new hardware will have an interface that will facilitate Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence model in a way that will offer control “beyond gestures.”
If Google and Samsung are following Apple down the virtual reality rabbit hole, they are doing so more cautiously. The first device that uses this brand-new Android XR hasn’t actually appeared yet. Samsung calls it “Project Moohan”, from the Korean word for “infinity”. As you can see above, Samsung has provided a visualization of its initial headset design. Judging by the image, the initial Samsung XR headset has a limited design without many obvious AR sensors like on the Meta Quest 3, Quest 3S, or Apple Vision Pro.
Moohan is an AR device of the first type. It works similarly to Vision Pro, where users tap to select apps that appear in large windows in an augmented reality environment. Last month, Samsung hinted at its plans for XR, but did not provide many specifics about its upcoming devices. The company stated that its headsets and glasses will have internal displays and end-to-end viewing capabilities. The big difference between these glasses and headphones compared to others on the market is that they support artificial intelligence. Samsung has stated that you will be able to control them with your voice, similar to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The device will likely have some sort of eye and hand tracking system, but Samsung says you’ll be able to use “natural conversation” to access the device or any of your apps.
Android XR is expected to make it easier to use virtual, augmented, and mixed reality features with many typical Android apps, such as Google Maps or YouTube. Samsung has shared a video about this Android XR platform in which a user clicks on a YouTube VR video shot in Florence, Italy. This feature is also available in Meta Quest through the still buggy YouTube app.
Just this week, Google announced its Gemini 2.0 model. The Android manufacturer stated that the whole point of its new model is to facilitate the work of AI agents – essentially, artificial intelligence that can take control of your device on your behalf. This is also the overall concept behind Android XR. In a statement, Google’s president of Android, Samir Samat, said that the multimodal artificial intelligence of his company’s AR platform will “enable natural and intuitive ways” to use these devices.
Google and Samsung also seem to have bought into the idea of augmented reality glasses, which will eventually eclipse the phone as the primary technology for everyone. Meta is currently working on the creation of real Orion augmented reality glasses. Apple is also looking to enter the smart glasses game. Conversely, Google gave up its position in the augmented reality glasses market after the release of Google Glass. Now it is happy to let Samsung take the reins while it builds its new form of the Android ecosystem. Like Android on mobile devices, Google expects more companies to emerge to offer similar hardware.
