Apple’s Next Big Thing: Augmented Reality – Bloomberg (Mar 20, 2017)

Yet more evidence that Apple sees a far more promising future in augmented than virtual reality, something Tim Cook has already affirmed several times. There’s little concrete in this article – lots of discussion on the people Apple has leading and working on its AR project, the kinds of technologies they’re working on, and some features they’re experimenting with, but really nothing about what Apple is actually likely to launch. I’ve often said that Apple tends to build up to new technologies slowly, and often subtly, incorporating the necessary hardware in devices like the iPhone long before it actually takes advantage of them, and I think the dual cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus are an example of that. The same technology that powers Portrait Mode and 2x optical zoom could easily be incorporated into some kind of AR technology on the iPhone, and I think it’s likely this fall’s iPhones will start to show some of what they’re capable of using these and other components. But Apple will probably also use the iPhone to build up to something separate over time, like glasses, something this article seems to confirm. For now, VR definitely has far more public attention than AR, and it’ll take someone like Apple getting into the business to change perceptions and raise awareness of the latter.

via Bloomberg


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