At I/O, Google introduced its imaginative and prescient of Android XR. However the “Android XR” that runs on headsets isn’t the “Android XR” that runs on good glasses.
The title Android XR was really first reported by Enterprise Insider’s Hugh Langley 18 months earlier than Google formally revealed it. In line with that report, Google internally referred to as an working system for headsets “Android XR”, and a a lot less complicated OS for glasses “Android micro XR”.
I deliver this up as a result of since formally revealing the 2 platforms in December, Google has as a substitute referred to them as one “Android XR”. Samsung’s gadget is an “Android XR headset”, whereas the prototype good glasses with a small HUD it confirmed at TED and I/O have been “Android XR glasses”.
That is each complicated and deceptive. As a result of in actuality, these are two fully completely different software program platforms.
The Android XR that runs on headsets is an extension of the Android expertise you’ve in your telephone or pill, totally standalone, with entry to the Play Retailer and a full-fledged developer SDK.
The Android XR that runs on good glasses, however, is a extremely cut-down model of Android that Google has not introduced any SDK or platform for, the place your telephone handles a whole lot of the computing, just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Positive, these two platforms each have the identical AOSP on the core, and sure you may discover among the identical Google providers on each. However the similarities finish there.
Think about if Apple had introduced the Apple Watch as operating “iOS”, or if Meta described the Ray-Ban Meta glasses as operating Horizon OS. That is the equal of Google describing these good glasses as operating Android XR.
I think about Google’s technique right here is pushed by the success of Ray-Ban Meta, the most important hype round Meta’s Orion prototype, and the poor public reception to the first-generation Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. Primarily, I think the corporate is deliberately attempting to current its headsets and glasses work below one hype banner, somewhat than disclosing the excellence between these two platforms.
Xreal Mission Aura Helps Android XR Through Tethered Puck
Xreal’s Mission Aura will assist Google’s Android XR by way of a tethered compute puck with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip.
You possibly can argue that the phrases “headset” and “glasses” will make the distinction apparent for shoppers. However the distinction between these gadget classes grew to become blurred with the reveal of Xreal’s Mission Aura. Aura is designed to resemble sun shades from sure angles, however powered by a tethered compute puck operating the headset model of Android XR.
Which means there are two fully completely different meanings of “Android XR glasses”. There are Android XR glasses, of the sort that can tackle Ray-Ban Meta, and there are Android XR glasses, of the sort that Meta and Apple will tackle with their subsequent headsets.
So we’ll quickly be in a world the place you should purchase Android XR glasses, or glasses that run Android XR, they usually’re fully completely different software program platforms. This may clearly result in confusion.
When a developer releases an fascinating app “for Android XR”, will shoppers with no understanding of the distinction between “Android XR glasses” and Xreal Aura perceive that purchasing Warby Parker glasses will not give them entry to mentioned app? Do all builders perceive that the Android XR apps they could construct is not going to run on the straightforward good glasses?
As a reader of UploadVR, these distinctions could appear apparent to you. However the nature and limitations of XR headsets and good glasses are usually not extensively recognized by most of the people.
Google Confirmed Off Smooth Good Glasses With A HUD Once more
At Google I/O 2025, the corporate gave one other demo of “prototype” good glasses with a HUD, displaying notifications, photographs, and plenty of Gemini.
The answer right here is to present the working system for good glasses its personal title. Google may repurpose the “Glass OS” title it used for Glass, for instance, or use a reputation like “Glasses OS”, akin to the way it calls its smartwatch platform Put on OS.
After all, no {hardware} firm has really launched any “Android XR” product but, and it is doable the advertising and marketing and PR round these merchandise will make the excellence I deliver up crystal clear. However given Google’s messaging to this point, I fear that clear positioning isn’t the corporate’s precedence.
