As of today, Google's augmented reality development platform, ARCore, was available only on Pixel / Nexus devices and on select handsets from brands such as Asus, Huawei, LG, Moto and Sony. But an update of the list of compatible devices, detected by 9to5Google today, now shows the support of ARCore for Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus.
Prior to the update, applications optimized for ARCore could only run on Samsung devices in the mid-range A and S7, S7 Edge, S8 and S8 Plus. Effectively, ARCore makes it easier for developers to make use of the combination of hardware and software of the smartphone to create more immersive and realistic AR applications. Without ARCore support, AR apps will not run on phones as well as they could with Google's optimization tools.
While Apple's competing ARKit platform caused a sensation with a release last year, Google's ARCore only came out of the beta since February. At that time, Google enabled ARCore for Samsung's flagship phones at that time, which turned out to be S8 line devices, along with their own devices and a handful of other top-tier phones. Although the S9 has been out of service since March, it has been notably absent from the ARCore list for more than two months. Since a better processor and more memory can only help AR applications work more smoothly, it was a little disconcerting to see the S9 excluded, but fortunately the owners of S9 can now join the fun of AR.
