Google are launching a version of Android specifically tailored for XR applications. A preview version of the SDK is available now. The first hardware is expected to launch later this year, with devices announced by Samsung and Sony.
Google have paid HTC $250m in exchange for technology licensing and an unspecified number of staff. It's a deal that's vaguely reminiscent of the 2017 deal, which saw Google acquihire around 2,000 HTC staff who had been involved in hardware development on Pixel. Google have been working on their own XR hardware under Project Astra, but it's unclear if there's a firm plan to bring that to market.
Comments
Google are launching a version of Android specifically tailored for XR applications. A preview version of the SDK is available now. The first hardware is expected to launch later this year, with devices announced by Samsung and Sony.
Google have paid HTC $250m in exchange for technology licensing and an unspecified number of staff. It's a deal that's vaguely reminiscent of the 2017 deal, which saw Google acquihire around 2,000 HTC staff who had been involved in hardware development on Pixel. Google have been working on their own XR hardware under Project Astra, but it's unclear if there's a firm plan to bring that to market.
https://developer.android.com/xr
https://www.vive.com/us/newsroom/2025-01-23/
Qualcomm is also telling devs who have been targeting the Spaces SDK to move to Android XR
The Visor is also coming out this year and the fan base believes they will eventually target Android XR (currently they target Spaces)