• Reports claim that Google is bringing an end to Project Iris, which was focused on creating a new pair of AR glasses.
• Google is instead said to be focusing on AR software.
• The software would be used to license a platform for other VR and AR headsets.

It looks like Google has decided to bring an end to its plans to develop a new pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses. This according to a report from Insider (paywall), which cites three people familiar with the matter.

As The Verge points out, Google announced plans to develop an AR headset in January of last year, having also demoed a pair of glasses that could do live translations at its I/O developer conference in 2022.

As such, any such related plans under its codenamed Project Iris, look to be dead in the water.

One of the major issues that resulted in this was a lack of workforce, with several people being removed from the project as the result of layoffs. Google’s parent company Alphabet laid off 12 000 employees at the beginning of the year and the company’s head of VR/AR, Clay Bavor, left earlier in the year too, which more than likely left the project ruderless.

That said, Google is not giving up on AR completely, as the company is said to be pivoting to the supporting software instead of manufacturing the hardware for such an ecosystem.

The company is also said to be working on a “micro XR” platform that would potentially be licensed to the manufacturer of other AR and VR headsets, akin to how Android is made available to phone makers.

With AR glasses reportedly failing to launch, the Insider report does note that an AR headset is still a possibility. This as Google is not solely manufacturing this device, unlike what Apple has done with the Vision Pro, and is instead collaborating with Qualcomm and Samsung on the project.

Whether such a device would be anywhere near as expensive as Apple’s variant remains to be seen. Either way, while AR glasses from Google are looking increasingly unlikely, a venture into augmented reality is still on the cards for the company.

[Image – Photo by Gerald Hartl on Unsplash]