Huawei Working on AR Headset, Shooting for Release by 2020

By Janko Roettgers

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Chinese consumer electronics giant Huawei is working on its own (AR) glasses, the company’s consumer group CEO Richard Yu revealed in an interview with CNBC . A release of the hardware could come within the next one or two years, Yu said.

Little is known about the hardware that is working on, but the company has been hiring computer vision specialists for its R&D departments for some time. Huawei also already has AR apps on its latest mobile phones, as CNBC noted Wednesday.

Huawei’s headset could ultimately compete against similar devices from a number of companies. Apple is said to be working on a headset that combines augmented and virtual reality features. Samsung revealed an experimental AR headset at its developer conference last week.

Companies like Google, Facebook and even Snapchat all have been betting on AR as a key technology for the future of computing as well. And AR startup Magic Leap was one of the first to actually release a device , and is currently targeting developers with its Magic Leap One headset.

Albeit not widely known in the U.S., Huawei has become a major force in consumer electronics in recent years. In fact, the company became the world’s second-biggest phone manufacturer this summer, beating Apple in device shipments.