Samsung promise to bring ARCore support to the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Note 8

One of the main reasons Apple is expected to be successful with ARKit is because they can roll out support for the SDK to hundreds of millions of iPhones, something which Google is unable to do in the unruly Android ecosystem.

This meant at launch Google’s competing augmented reality SDK ARCore was only supported on the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S8.

Today at the Samsung Developer Conference 2017 Samsung expanded that number significantly by announcing support for ARCore on the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.

In their official release their write:

Building upon Samsung’s heritage of creating pioneering technology that delivers incredible experiences to unlock new realities such as VR, the company is committed to continuing to advance technologies in AR. Through a partnership with Google, developers will be able to use the ARCore SDK to bring AR to millions of Samsung consumers on the Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note8. This strategic partnership with Google offers new business opportunities for developers, and a new platform for creating immersive new experiences for consumers.

This means many millions of more handsets will soon support the SDK, which may be enough to get developers to port their new AR apps from the iPhone.

Of course, it remains to be seen if phone-based AR holds any interest for consumers in the long term, but support by the biggest phone OEM in the world has just made ARCore’s future a bit brighter.

See a demo of useful AR services the SDK offers to developers below, including plane detection, physics and adjustment to ambient light.