Google could be bringing back its AR glasses after code found

Google could be taking another stab at the augmented reality (AR) glasses scene after the failure of Glass and canceled Project Iris.

Code found within the Google app by 9to5Google points to a possible resurrection of the company’s wearable augmented reality specs. Before being canned, Project Iris was the planned headset, which the code mentions by name. It also refers to a pressing of the temple for an action.

Augmented reality (AR) is currently taking off in a major way. Meta’s Quest 3 headset heavily features mixed reality (MR), a combination of virtual reality (VR) and AR. We’ve also seen a bounty of new AR glasses come from Meta, XReal, and other companies like TCL. Lenovo is also planning to launch its own version.

Google is yet to have found success with its own hardware. While Maps and Search have been updated to include AR on the software side, its wearable hardware initiatives have floundered. Famously, Google Glass was quickly scrapped after a rough launch. More recently, Project Iris became the subject of yet another canceled Google project.

Google’s Project Iris could be coming back if discovered code is to be believed

The glasses or headset from Project Iris would integrate the Google Assistant, and advertised at Google I/O as a live translator.

Since Iris was scrapped, two other projects have been kept on. Moohan is reportedly Google and Samsung’s collaboration to take on the Apple Vision Pro, and Betty is the next step towards glasses again.

If Google is returning to the idea of AR glasses, we hope they learn a lot of lessons from the current competition.

In our experience, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the wearables for eyes. Rayban and Meta have recently joined forces to develop their own device. Meanwhile, XReal’s first mainstream offering, the Air, failed to live up to expectations.