Scott Stein

Four stories in late 2024 concentrated Scott Stein’s coverage around the emerging XR platform contest between Meta, Google and Apple.

Who they are

Scott Stein appears in coverage centered on consumer technology, particularly devices and platforms from CNET’s orbit: Apple hardware, iPhones, mixed-reality headsets, smart glasses, gaming systems and wearables. The recurring associations with CNET, Apple, Meta, Google and Microsoft place him at the intersection of product launches, hands-on assessments and the evolving spatial-computing market.

The recent arc

The most concentrated recent phase came in late 2024, when coverage moved decisively toward extended reality and connected wearables. The key stories were Meta opening Horizon OS to Asus and Lenovo, Google’s Android XR launch with Gemini and Samsung’s Project Moohan, Meta’s new Ray-Ban Meta functions, and an assessment of Apple’s Vision Pro Immersive Video film Submerged. Together, they shifted the focus from individual devices to the software platforms, AI features and content experiences intended to make headsets and glasses viable.

Coverage in 2025 and early 2026 broadened back into adjacent consumer hardware without abandoning that lens: Meta’s Hypernova AR glasses were framed against Apple’s timing, iPadOS 26 was evaluated for professional use, Nintendo introduced Switch 2, and Pebble returned with the Round 2 smartwatch. Earlier high-impact appearances, including Vision Pro’s US launch and reviews of iPhone, AirPods Pro, HoloLens 2 and Stadia, show that this XR turn grew out of a longer record of tracking how major platforms translate new hardware into everyday products.

The tension

The central tension is the battle to define the next personal-computing interface before the market fully forms. Apple’s premium Vision Pro approach sits alongside Meta’s effort to spread Horizon OS across third-party hardware and Google’s Android XR partnership with Samsung, while Meta’s Ray-Ban products and Hypernova plans point toward lighter glasses rather than full headsets. The coverage repeatedly tests whether hardware capability, operating-system openness, AI integration and usable content can converge quickly enough to expand beyond early adopters.

Why it matters

If this trajectory holds, coverage around Scott Stein will be less about isolated gadget specifications and more about which companies can build durable ecosystems across headsets, glasses, phones and services. Meta and Google are pursuing broader platform distribution while Apple remains closely associated with a tightly integrated high-end device, making developer support, practical AI features and consumer comfort consequential variables. Whether any of those strategies produces sustained mainstream adoption remains unresolved in the stories provided.

Related: CNET · Apple · Meta · Google · Google unveils Android XR, a mixed reality OS for headsets and smart g · Meta opens its VR OS, now called Horizon OS, to third parties, and say