Google has reportedly discontinued its Project Iris augmented reality glasses

Last January, we revealed that Google is also building an AR headset — “Project Iris” would be the company’s bet against the Meta and Apple’s yet-to-be-announced headgear. But now that its rivals have been revealed, Google is reportedly holding off on glasses-shaped AR: insider is reporting Google has suspended its plans for Project Iris, citing three people “familiar with the matter”.

As of publication, Google is now focusing on software rather than hardware. It’s building a “Micro XR” platform that it can license to other headset makers, similar to the way Google provides Android to its wider ecosystem of phones.

however, insider suggests that the ski goggle-like headset we originally mentioned may actually still be in the cards — since Google isn’t making all of them itself anymore. In February, Google, Samsung, and Qualcomm made an incredibly vague announcement about how the three companies were partnering together on a new mixed reality platform, and while we haven’t heard anything meaningful about it since then, insiderSources say that Google’s glasses were “really the foundation for the upcoming Samsung headset”.

This wouldn’t be the first project where Samsung and Google have collaborated to create a cutting-edge gadget that Google wasn’t prepared to build on its own. Long before Google launched its own Pixel Fold this summer, it worked to modify Android to support the Galaxy Fold line of folding phones.

Originally, we reported that Google wanted to ship the AR headset in 2024. Last month at Google I/O 2023, Google VP Sameer Samat had said that the company will “share more later this year” about the collaboration with Samsung.

insider The report states that Project Iris was plagued by layoffs and changes in strategies during development, and Google’s head of VR/AR Clay Beaver left the company four months ago. Kurt Eckel, a distinguished engineer we reported was involved with the project, is now listed as “retired” on his LinkedIn page. Two others are still involved with AR, including Mark Lukowski, the company’s senior director of operating systems for AR.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.