Google's holographic videoconferencing is coming in 2025
Google’s futuristic videoconferencing platform, now called Beam, is set to launch with HP hardware later this year.
Google has been working for years on a videoconferencing system that enables presence, or the feeling of being in the same room as another person. The result of this endeavour, originally known as Project Starline, has finally been given a name, launch date and hardware partner.
At Google I/O, the company officially rebranded the project as Google Beam, announcing that the first Beam devices, manufactured by HP, will be released in 2025.
First products will be presented in June
Google Beam uses a special light field display and six cameras. An AI model converts the videos captured by these cameras, which are positioned at different angles around the user, into a life-like 3D model of that person. The processing is carried out in the Google Cloud.
Hi Google Beam👋! What started as Project Starline has evolved into a revolutionary 3D video communications platform. The combination of our AI video model and light field display allows you to make eye contact and read subtle cues as if you were face-to-face 🤯… pic.twitter.com/VlsIZz9Uzx
AdAd— Google AI (@GoogleAI) May 20, 2025
When used with Google Meet, Beam offers an AI-supported real-time voice translation mode that retains the original speaker's voice, tone, and expressions.
While the earliest prototypes were bulky and technically complex, the final product will consist of little more than a TV-like display and a compute unit. The streamlining of the technology is made possible by the AI model and cloud computing used. Google has developed a reference design that will allow OEMs, such as HP, to bring their own Beam devices to market.
HP's first Beam products will be presented at InfoComm at the beginning of June. Over the course of the year, these devices are expected to find their way into the offices of customers such as Deloitte, Salesforce, Citadel, NEC, Hackensack Meridian Health, Duolingo and Recruit.
The price and availability of the devices will be announced next month. According to Verge reporter Alex Heath, they will be comparable in price to existing conferencing systems used in offices today.
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