Google I/O is so much like Apple‘s WWDC. A staple of the tech calendar, the place Google takes a second to flaunt its developments in software program and AI, and present us what’s on its solution to Android gadgets over the approaching yr.
It isn’t usually you will see {hardware} steal the present. For that, you usually must catch the corporate’s Made By Google occasion later within the calendar yr. Nonetheless, this yr is totally different.
It will not be of Google’s personal crafting, however Google I/O simply gifted you the best motive to purchase an Android gadget in years, and I am not speaking a couple of smartphone.
Unveiled at Google I/O on Tuesday, XREAL’s Android XR-driven Undertaking Aura XR glasses are the subsequent main milestone for AR glasses — a know-how I have been preaching about for a while now.
Let’s gooooo! XREAL is at Google IO. Are you? pic.twitter.com/duAv8V108HMight 20, 2025
XREAL Undertaking Aura: The white-hot glow of potential
The the bare eye, XREAL’s Undertaking Aura appears very like its not too long ago launched XREAL One AR glasses, with the elective XREAL Eye digital camera accent constructed immediately into the frames.
Which means we will count on Undertaking Aura to not simply supply AR experiences by means of its flattened birdbath optics, however for these visuals to be enhanced additional with three and six-degrees of freedom (3/6DoF), permitting for immersive viewing experiences, much like these provided by full headsets like Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional or Meta Quest 3, which might anchor augmented components in place and preserve them there — even when turning your head or strolling round.
Apparently, what actually units Undertaking Aura other than its XREAL One/One Professional predecessors is the change to a Qualcomm chipset from the corporate’s proprietary X1 chip.
On the change, Senior Vice President and Common Supervisor of XR at Qualcomm Applied sciences, Inc., Ziad Asghar, proudly boasts: “Qualcomm Applied sciences is happy to be powering XREAL’s new Android XR gadget,” additional stating stating, “Working with XREAL, Snapdragon permits wonderful immersive experiences to come back to life in a novel optical see-through product.”
XREAL’s Undertaking Aura appears to be the proper XR glasses to carry Google’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for AI assistants, Undertaking Astra (as seen within the video above, showcased throughout final yr’s Google I/O occasion), to life, providing a mixture of AI and AR tech to permit multi-modal AI fashions like Google Gemini to shine.
Qualcomm undoubtedly has a historical past in AR and XR, with its Snapdragon chips powering the most recent Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets. However greater than a quick processor will probably be required if XREAL’s XR glasses are to get off the bottom correctly. For that, you want solely take a look at Undertaking Aura’s use of the brand new Android XR platform.
“Google is thrilled to welcome XREAL to the Android XR household and to construct nice XR experiences on Undertaking Aura,” stated Hugo Swart, Sr. Director, XR ecosystem at Google. And I am sure that the sensation is mutual, because the one factor holding AR glasses again to this point has been software program. Android XR modifications that — and it brings Google’s Gemini AI alongside for the journey.
XREAL Co-founder Chi Xu agrees, stating in a press launch: “We’ve all the time pushed the boundaries of what XR {hardware} can do — combining efficiency, consolation, and design into one thing folks can put on on daily basis … Partnering with Google on Android XR takes this imaginative and prescient to the subsequent stage.”
XREAL’s partnership with Google on utilizing the Android XR platform is not only a shift to a extra universally out there platform, it is the kicking opening of the doorways and an invite to builders to reap the benefits of its {hardware} in new and fascinating methods. As Xu sees it, “this can be a breakthrough second for real-world XR.”
I am inclined to agree.
What’s subsequent
Immediately was only a glimpse at Undertaking Aura, the second official gadget to utilize Android XR.
To listen to extra, we’ll want to attend for the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in June. It is right here that we will probably count on to listen to extra about its Qualcomm potential and XREAL’s developments in {hardware}.
However relaxation assured, this is not a preview of a know-how years from the market. XREAL has been creating among the most superior AR glasses available on the market for years. Undertaking Aura is more likely to be in your arms, and in your face, properly upfront of Meta’s bold Orion glasses, that is for positive.
To remain looped into the challenge, you may subscribe to information on XREAL’s Undertaking Aura on the firm’s web site.
I have been a long-time proponent of good glasses, and Undertaking Aura’s mix of AR and AI might make it the primary of its sort to essentially break by means of the perceived mainstream barrier and make good glasses like this a staple of contemporary, on a regular basis tech.
To many, my phrases have been wasted all too early. An overenthusiastic response to tech that’s oftentimes off-handedly dismissed as one thing that wants extra time to cook dinner and mature.
Whereas I disagree, I can see why folks might hesitate. Good glasses did not precisely get off to the most effective of begins when Google Glass burst onto the scene in 2013.
Nonetheless, Undertaking Aura is one thing new. One thing totally different. And, if there is a message to share with those that aren’t bought on the concept of your face being the platform for the pc of the long run, let me let you know: we’re right here.
