Google and Samsung Partner to Bring ARCore to Galaxy Phones

Samsung and Google have announced (via The Verge) a new partnership to bring the latter’s augmented reality platform to Galaxy-branded smartphones. Called ARCore, the platform was originally introduced back in August and entered early previews available on both the Google Pixel and Galaxy S8. Now, the technology is being formally introduced as a feature on high-end Galaxies such as the S8 and Note 8.

Having ARCore on a Samsung Galaxy is really nice. Rather trying to create its own augmented reality platform, Samsung simply chose Google’s which is a decision they don’t often make. If the company were to go the other route and make their own platform, we would’ve seen fragmentation in the Android AR space in which developers would be forced to choose between or both platforms to create for. Now, when a developer makes an ARCore-based experience for the Pixel, it’ll be available on a Galaxy as well.

Samsung says ARCore will be included built-in on future Galaxy devices. For now, only the S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 are compatible.