Samsung and Google team up on augmented reality with ARCore

Samsung is having a pretty big day. We already told you about its announcements regarding Bixby and Project Ambience and how it will unite its Internet of Things platforms. But, Samsung wasn’t done making headlines yet. It also announced a formal partnership with Google to bring the ARCore framework to its lineup of smartphones long-term.

See also: Check out these six ARCore experiments that Google has toyed around with

ARCore was previously Project Tango. You might remember Tango from the few phones it was featured on, including the recent ASUS ZenFone AR. Project Tango devices relied on special sensors to make augmented reality apps work, but ARCore’s mission is to bring AR to all phones. The platform focuses on three things: motion tracking, environmental understanding, and light estimation, and drops the requirement of specialized hardware.

Previous Samsung devices like the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, and Galaxy Note 8 have all supported ARCore, but this agreement signifies that Samsung will adopt it for future devices.

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.

That Samsung is going along with Google’s platform is a great sign for the future. Samsung has picked up a reputation through the years of including its own apps on Galaxy phones that duplicate the functionality of Google’s apps. That led to some bloated phones and fears that Samsung would eventually drop Android altogether for Tizen. With the death of some of these apps and agreements like this, it appears Google and Samsung’s relationship is stronger than ever.