Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus are now able to turn you into Donald Duck using augmented reality, with the feature in question coming in the form of a sticker update for AR Emoji. The Donald Duck mask is being pushed out to owners of the newly released flagships as part of Samsung’s recently announced partnership with Disney that already saw AR Emoji receive Mickey and Minnie Mouse stickers last month. Donald’s AR character arrived to the Galaxy S9 series without his significant other, with Samsung and Disney so far not mentioning Daisy Duck in any capacity. What they did mention were characters from Zootopia, The Incredibles, Frozen, and a number of other Disney properties, all of which are set to be included to AR Emoji’s portfolio over the course of this year as a result of the same collaboration.
The new Donald Duck sticker can be obtained by downloading the Mickey Mouse & Friends AR Emoji app from the Galaxy Apps store or updating it to the latest version in case you already installed it. The simplest way to do so is tapping the plus icon in the bottom right corner of the AR Emoji interface of the default Camera app which will recommend you sticker packages to download, with the one featuring Disney characters still being the first on that list of suggestions. The sticker package depends on AR Emoji and is hence exclusive to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, though Samsung may still bring the technically hardware-agnostic service to its other devices.
The technology behind AR Emoji has been created by Loom.ai, a San Francisco, California-based startup co-founded by an Oscar winner and another Hollywood veteran, both of whom are predicting an AR-dominated future wherein everyone is a “Jedi hologram,” the duo revealed in a recent interview with AndroidHeadlines. The feature itself has been met with a mixed response from consumers as it’s relatively basic in nature compared to something like Apple’s Animoji supported by the iPhone X, though Loom.ai says its platform can also utilize 3D cameras in a comparable manner and is hence presently limited in what it can accomplish by its hardware, i.e. the fact that the Galaxy S9 series features a conventional front-facing imaging sensor. With recent reports indicating the Galaxy S10 will include one such depth-sensing solution, AR Emoji are likely to be significantly improved next year, provided Samsung opts to extend its technology licensing agreement with Loom.ai.