ARCore smartphone compatibility list: who's in and who's out

When Google replaced Project Tango with ARCore, it removed one of the biggest hurdles to adopting augmented reality on Android: dedicated (and expensive) sensors. In theory, any Android phone with a decent processor, camera, and gyro/motion sensors can do AR. In practice, however, ARCore has been so far limited to a few high-end smartphones. Good thing then, that the latest version of ARCore will be bringing even more models, including mid-range ones, to the AR party.

As of this writing, there are 29 smartphones that support ARCore. More if you consider variants like "Plus" and "XL". Most of them lean towards the latest and greatest flagships. They include:

• Asus Zenfone AR

• Asus Zenfone ARES

• Google Nexus 5X

• Google Nexus 6P

• Google Pixel, Pixel XL

• Google Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL

• HMD Global Nokia 6 (2018) Also known as Nokia 6.1

• HMD Global Nokia 8 Sirocco

• Huawei P20, P20 Pro

• Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design

• LG G6

• LG G7 ThinQ

• LG V30, V30+, V30+ JOJO

• LG V35 ThinQ

• Motorola Moto G5S Plus

• Motorola Moto G6 Plus

• Motorola Moto Z2 Force

• OnePlus 3T

• OnePlus 5

• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) [Samsung models ending in 0 and 8 are not supported]

• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)

• Samsung Galaxy A8, Galaxy A8+ (2018)

• Samsung Galaxy Note8

• Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge

• Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+

• Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium

• Sony Xperia XZ1, Xperia XZ1 Compact

• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S

Those are hardly the only phones in the market. Thanks to some digging by XDA, the latest ARCore 1.3 update will add support for the following:

• BQ Aquaris X2 (zangya_sprout)

• Honor 10 (HWCOL)

• LG Q6 (mh/mhn)

• Nokia 6 (PL2)

• Nokia 7 Plus (B2N)

• OnePlus 5T

• Sony Xperia XZ (F8331/F8332/SO-01J/SOV34)

• Sony Xperia XZs (602SO/G8231/G8232/SO-03J/SOV35)

• Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact (H8314/SO-05K)

• Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium (H8116/H8166/SO-04K)

• Xiaomi Mi 8 (dipper)

• Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition (ursa)

• Unknown Android One devices (chef_sprout, DRG_sprout)

• Unknown Huawei device (INE)

• Unknown Sony device (SOV48)

It's a varied bunch that covers different tiers and generations and they are a welcome addition to the ARCore roster. Mobile AR is still in its infancy and is often seen as more of a toy than a serious technology. But as Apple showed at WWDC and Google in its recent WebXR demo, mobile AR has the potential to make augmented reality more accessible and more relevant to users of all walks of life. Provided, of course, Google actually sticks to ARCore this time.