When Google first announced ARCore*, I was skeptical because of the spectacular failure that was Project Tango. Google's second attempt at getting augmented reality in the hands of consumers was more promising from the outset, however, because it didn't need dedicated hardware to work. After working with an OEM to calibrate the cameras and sensors of their smartphones for optimal accuracy and battery use, Google stamps its seal of approval and adds the new device(s) to its ever-growing list of ARCore-supported devices. That list just grew even larger with the addition of 7 new devices today, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+, iPod touch (7th generation), Xiaomi Mi A3, Realme X (our review), and more.

The Galaxy Note 10 is a notable addition to this list because it was just launched this month, and one of its new features (AR Doodle) requires the use of ARCore. AR Doodle is a feature that lets you draw effects on top of people seen in the camera viewfinder, so it's about as useful as Google's Playground AR stickers (as in, not at all.) But thanks to ARCore support, you'll have access to useful features like augmented reality navigation in Google Maps, so I wouldn't consider the service to be bloatware.

The 7th generation iPod touch is a bit of a special case here since it's obviously an Apple device that doesn't have Google Play Services. On iOS, ARCore requires Apple's ARKit to be supported. The benefit of having ARCore support on iOS is that developers can build augmented reality experiences for both mobile platforms.

The other newly added devices to the roster are the LG G8s ThinQ and Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018), in addition to the handful of devices that we covered being added this week such as the Realme 3 Pro, Motorola Moto Z4, and Motorola One Vision.

 Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Forums ||| Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Forums ||| Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) Forums

Xiaomi Mi A3 Forums ||| Realme X Forums ||| LG G8 ThinQ Forums

*Google recently renamed ARCore to Google Play Services for AR, but most of you probably still know it by its former name. With the change in naming comes the inclusion of the ARCore service into Google Play Services (hence the name change), so you won't need to install the app from the Google Play Store anymore.