Google tries again. After showing us a new prototype of AR glasses for a handful of frames inside the latest Google I/O, the Mountain View house has now announced a “multifaceted strategic technological partnership” with Magic Leap designed to “advance the future of the XR ecosystem with unique and innovative product offerings.”
It is not clear what the agreement consists of, but the press release issued by Magic Leap insists on its experience in the world of optics, an experience that has produced “high-precision glasses with incredibly high yields and quality on a large scale”. However, talking about large scale may be excessive, given that Magic Leap’s products have always been incredibly expensive and the company has never shared sales data.
Thus two of the biggest flops of the last decade join forces, namely the aforementioned Magic Leap and the authors of the now defunct project Google Glass. Beyond the easy humor, it’s clear that Google is still interested in augmented reality glasses, so much so that it showed off a prototype of the glasses at Google I/O earlier this month. If you missed them, find one of the few frames available below.
In a market that’s proving incredibly expensive, the theory is that Magic Leap may have a technology or patent that Google thinks it can exploit to win the race for truly smart glasses. A race that could start sooner than expected, also thanks to the continuous and surprising progress of generative AI and machine learning.
Among other things, Google also signed a mysterious agreement with Samsung and Qualcomm to produce a headset in February 2023, and since then we have heard practically nothing about the project. The latest rumors, however, suggest it could be by the end of 2024 and that it could be revealed together with the next Galaxy Z Flip and Fold smartphones, for which Samsung could raise prices using the Olympics as a stage.
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