Google previews Android XR, a new OS to power next wave of headsets and smart glasses

Despite failing to pull off headsets and smart glasses for the past decade, Google is giving it another go. The tech giant announced on Thursday, December 13, a new operating system for extended reality (XR) devices called Android XR.

“Android XR is designed to be an open, unified platform for XR headsets and glasses. For users, this means more choice of devices and access to apps they already know and love. For developers, it’s a unified platform with opportunities to build experiences for a wide range of devices using familiar Android tools and frameworks,” Shahram Izadi, the vice president and general manager of Google’s XR team, wrote in a blog post.