Google’s mobile augmented reality platform ARCore received support for Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy Note 9, as well as a number of other contemporary Android devices. The latest expansion of the company’s AR ecosystem happened earlier this week but wasn’t announced in any highly public capacity on Google’s part, with the change only being communicated on ARCore’s official support page. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4 is also supported as of the latest version of the service, together with HMD’s Nokia 6.1 Plus and Sony’s Xperia XZ2 handsets – the regular Xperia XZ2, Xperia XZ2 Compact, and the Xperia XZ2 Premium.
As evidenced by the example of the Galaxy S9 series, the fact that ARCore technically already supports the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Tab S4 doesn’t guarantee the two Android devices will be compatible with the AR solution out of the box. Both Samsung and Google must do their part in ensuring the tool is compatible with the upcoming flagships and in the case of the Galaxy S9 line, Google took nearly two months after its commercial release to activate the framework. No specific software requirements for ARCore have been outlined in the context of Samsung and HMD’s products, though Sony’s smartphones must run Android 8.0 Oreo with the August security update or a later patch in order for the feature to be used, with the main implication here being that ARCore support is being bundled with the latest firmware package for the Xperia XZ2 family.
ARCore is presently available on the vast majority of contemporary Android flagships, as well as a number of mid-rangers. Google‘s platform has been envisioned as a comprehensive solution for standardizing mobile AR applications, both in terms of user experiences and development. The upcoming Pixel 3 handsets are expected to offer ARCore support out of the box, with the ecosystem itself being likely to continue expanding beyond them over the course of the final quarter of the year.