Hidden code points to Google reviving its AR glasses project

Project Iris could be back

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Google Glasswas one of the first devices to build augmented reality tech into spectacles, but that device came and went without making much of a real impact. Now it looks likeGoogleis once again interested in this particular product category.

Based on hidden code discovered by9to5Googlein the Google app for Android, there’s a new reference to “iris”, as well as to launching Google Assistant with a tap on the right temple – which sounds like a pair of AI specs to us.

Now Project Iris was the codename of the specsthat Google briefly showed offat Google I/O in 2022: their main job was to translate dialog spoken in a foreign language into text that would appear before your eyes.

It was only a short demo, and we haven’t heard much about the glasses since – except in June of this year, whena report appearedthat suggested the project had been shelved. Four months later, it could be back on the table once again.

AR and MR

Considering the brevity of the initial demo, and the lack of official information about these AR specs, we don’t have much to go on in terms of what they can do – or indeed why they might have fallen down Google’s list of priorities.

Wewere certainly impressedby what Google showed off last year, but it seems likely that these specs would go beyond instant translation and cover a variety of other features too. We might be talking about everything Google Assistant can do, and then some.

Even while Google has been relatively quiet on this topic – at least sinceGoogle Glass Enterprise was discontinued–  the market category continues to trundle on, as ourRay-Ban Meta Smart Glasses reviewshows.

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We also know thatSamsungand Google arecurrently working ona mixed reality headset to take on the likes of theMeta Quest 3and theApple Vision Pro. Based on this report, there could also be something more lightweight in the pipeline again.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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