Meta Reportedly Snubs Potential Partnership with Google for Extended Reality Platform

Meta reportedly snubbed a potential partnership with Google that would have seen the pair collaborate on an extended reality platform, according to reports from The Information. The proposal to build “Android XR” together was discussed late last year, but Meta ultimately walked away from the deal.

Currently, Meta runs a modified version of Android on its headsets, but Google has not made its full suite of apps available to them. This has prevented Meta from bringing the Android Play Store to its devices, limiting the number of available apps and potentially hindering the appeal of their products.

Smartphone apps are a valuable resource for headset manufacturers, as seen with Apple’s success in utilizing iOS apps for their Vision Pro headset. While over 1,000 dedicated spatial apps are available for the Vision Pro, it also supports over one million smartphone apps – a resource that Meta does not currently have access to.

The Information reported that Google offered to give Meta access to more Android apps if they agreed to the partnership, but Meta was hesitant to cede control of the platform that powers their Quest headsets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed a desire to “own” the next computing platform, similar to how Microsoft dominated the PC era and Apple leads the smartphone era.

For Google, a partnership with Meta would have provided an opportunity to enter a market where they have previously struggled to make an impact. Despite efforts with products like Google Glass and Project Iris, Google has faced challenges in the XR hardware space.

While Meta is reportedly planning to reveal its augmented reality glasses later this year, Google is positioning itself in partnerships with companies like Samsung and Qualcomm. The competition between these tech giants in the XR space continues to evolve, with both companies vying for dominance in the emerging market of extended reality technology.