Samsung has been working on some form of mixed-reality platform since at least February of 2023, when the Korean company announced a partnership with tech giants Google and Qualcomm.
The trio of companies presumably were working on a mixed-reality headset that would rival the Apple Vision Pro. Google announced a special version of the Android operating system for AR, VR and XR interfaces.
“Now we believe that we have reached a certain threshold,” Samsung CEO TM Roh said in 2023. He explained that Google, Samsung and Qualcomm will play similar roles in this partnership as they do when building phones together, supplying chips and software to power Samsung’s hardware. In a recent interview with CNBC, Qualcomm’s CEO Cristiano Amon said that the partnership is exploring a set of mixed-reality smart glasses that would link to a smartphone instead of a headset. It’s a much different approach than the rumored headset.
Someone came up with a great idea.
Say you have to change a tire, but have no idea how to do it.
You type in the job and put on the glasses. Heads up display shows you every step, from opening the trunk to taking out the tire to removing the old one.
Anyone can be an instant expert
Put on glasses
Ask voice Assistant a question:
how do you change a tire on a Honda civic?
Slide deck shows up from howto.com.
Is this what you want?
Yes.
Start job.
Hey google/bixby, next slide.
I gave a simple example.
Here’s a complex one.
You want to put up a log cabin in the woods.
Locates the perfect site on the property. Shows you which tree to cut and how to situate it. Shows you which tree to cut next.
Well that might work in a few decades but it’s far beyond the power you can run off of a cell phone with an internet connection today.
With something like the Apple Vision that can create a mesh of your surroundings as you travel, you might be able to roughly survey the land and trees by walking around. The software to do just that part would be crazy hard though.