Google is laying off hundreds of employees who worked on AR hardware, 9to5Google reports. “A few hundred roles are being eliminated in DSPA with the majority of impacts on the 1P AR Hardware team. While we are making changes to our 1P AR hardware team, Google continues to be deeply committed to other AR initiatives, such as AR experiences in our products, and product partnerships,” the company said in a statement.
According to a report, Google shut down an AR glasses project codenamed Iris in early 2023. Since then, the company has lost a number of leading AR minds, including Google’s former XR head Clay Bavor, AR operating system architect Marc Lucovsky, and Vice President of Hardware Engineering Paul Greco.
Google is still working on a mixed reality headset with Samsung, which could reportedly be released at the end of 2024.
