AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and so much more.
Google announced Android XR at a surprise event in December 2024, unveiling the first version of Android built for AR and VR devices. Just as the term “smartphone” encompasses several different form factors — slabs, folding phones, etc. — XR is the combination of AR and VR under one umbrella term.
While Android XR is a bit late to the game, Google has the chance to learn from Meta and Apple. From everything we’ve seen so far, Android XR looks to be the perfect combination between Meta’s Horizon OS, which powers Meta Quest headsets, and Apple’s Vision OS on the Apple Vision Pro.
But while Google looks like it has figured out the operating system side of things, we still don’t have any proper product announcements. That’s going to change in 2025, and I fully expect to see at least one flagship VR/mixed reality headset and one pair of AR glasses make a commercial debut. We also know about a few other projects in the works, so here’s 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 proven itself as the market leader in smart display glasses segment and has launched two full-fledged standalone smart glasses products to date — Beam, and Beam Pro. Beam Pro redefined the company’s standalone solution in 2024, and I believe Xreal will continue to evolve this concept with its first Android XR product.
Xreal Beam Pro looks a lot 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 puck” similar to what Meta Orion is using. I don’t expect it to be wireless like Orion’s puck, as Xreal would likely prioritize battery life and comfort by putting the battery in the compute puck.
I also don’t think the compute puck will feature a display, as Android XR is built to display an XR user interface rather than a traditional flat-screen Android UI. As such, the puck will only function when the glasses are attached, similar to that one Xreal-powered laptop that got canceled.
I still expect the glasses to have a custom piece of silicon inside, similar to Xreal One, the company’s recently updated smart display glasses. Xreal One has an optional camera coming out soon, but I expect Xreal’s first Android XR glasses to have cameras built in for full spatial tracking. I got a glimpse of this future at MWC 2024 when I went hands-on with Xreal Air 2 Ultra, which featured a very beta custom UI, full 6DoF tracking, and rudimentary hand tracking support.
Xreal Android XR glasses will almost certainly use a compute puck 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 gorgeous. I’m quite confident in Xreal’s ability to deliver excellent hardware at this point, and fully expect Xreal’s Android XR glasses to challenge Meta Orion in a serious way.
While the ultimate goal of Android XR smart glasses will almost certainly be to replace your phone, I think initial versions from companies like Xreal will mainly be focused on providing a neck-saving experience for entertainment and productivity on the go.
When will we see Xreal Android XR glasses? I believe we’ll see them debut at Google I/O 2025, which is typically held in May. Google I/O is the company’s annual developer conference, and what better way to encourage development for a new Android platform than to fully debut it and a new set of products than at a developer conference? I can’t think of one.
Samsung
According to years of leaks, Samsung and Google had originally planned to launch its first mixed reality headset powered by Android XR sometime in the latter half of 2024. That all changed when Apple unveiled the Vision Pro in the summer of 2023, which seemingly compelled Samsung to go back to the drawing board to make a more compelling device.
The result is Project Moohan. We don’t know the final product name for it just yet but we do know Samsung plans to release it commercially sometime later this year. That’s a full year late, but it absolutely means we’re going to get a better product because of it.
Samsung aims to deliver a cutting-edge product that looks like a melding of the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro into a (hopefully) more affordable headset. It sports the same ski goggles-like form factor as these two products and even uses a similar magnetic light blocker system and halo-style strap as the Quest Pro, which I still find to be the most comfortable VR headset for long-term use.