Will Google and Meta merge for Android?

Meta stands out with its investments in the world of augmented reality in recent years. It produces many solutions from hardware to software within the company. However, it finally sat at the table with Google. Reports showed that Google and Meta met for Android XR.

Google organized Android XR meeting with Meta

According to recent reports, Google wanted to equip Quest virtual reality glasses with the Android XR operating system at a meeting held in late 2023. In this context, the software giant met with Meta and offered the company a partnership.

Meta would contribute to the development of Android XR and move Quest glasses to the open source VR system. This would give Quest access to popular Google tools such as YouTube and Meet.

Meta and Microsoft allied against Apple!

Google offered to help bring more of its apps to the Quest platform through a formal partnership. But Meta executives turned down this offer and decided not to pursue a deep partnership with Google.

While Meta is open to Google apps coming to Quest, it aims to retain control over the Quest Store ecosystem. In this context, it does not want to make Quest glasses dependent on Google’s Android platform.

Meta previously thought that it had lost the competition in the mobile space to Apple and Google (iOS and Android). It should be noted that Meta developed Quest with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), but it has its own software. In this context, it wants to be a pioneer in the world of augmented reality.