Samsung’s TM Roh has been hyping up Android XR in a recent interview, and made comments which suggest that Google is aware of the importance of building a solid software backing for its fledgling platform. If these words translate into action then Android XR could be the first real rival to Horizon OS.

Google spent $250 million to acuire engineers from HTC Vive for Android XR, echoing moves it made with HTC for the Pixel in 2017.

Google has agreed to acquire part of HTC's extended-reality (XR) business for $250 million, expanding its push into virtual and augmented reality hardware The deal involves transferring some of the HTC VIVE engineering staff to Google and granting non-exclusive IP rights.