Apple CEO Tim Cook has already hinted that the company is more attracted towards the Augmented Reality (AR) functions rather than the Virtual Reality (VR). He claimed that the company will continue the investment of time, money and efforts on AR functions. And now, several reports are claiming that Apple is allegedly working on AR implementation in iPhone camera app.
Previously there were also rumors about Google-like augmented reality glasses from Apple mobiles. The company has filed a patent which is expected to be an AR-based mapping system for iPhones. From this, we could expect AR capabilities in latest mobiles as well as in its upcoming mobiles.
Citing the sources, BusinessInsider has claimed that Apple is developing AR capabilities on cameras of upcoming iPhones. Such AR capabilities could get used for getting all the information about a real-life object just by pointing the camera towards it. Another use of this technology could be for the recognition of people’s faces in real-time. The functionality of this feature could resemble the facial recognition technology which is present in the Photo app on iOS.
The report includes that Apple is working with Metaio and Flyby Media which are the startups acquired by Apple in past two years. The employees of both the companies are working on Apple’s camera team for the new technology. Furthermore, Apple could also release the SDK for developers.
In some other news, Apple is also rumored to working on AR-based wearable devices which could use to recognize real world object just by pointing out their iPhones towards them. To specify, Apple is developing a pair of glasses which could get paired to an iPhone to display the appropriate information, a Bloomberg report said. These glasses are expected to arrive sometime in 2018 to go head-to-head with Google Glass.
Apple could also work on the integration of its mapping app with AR technologies, as per the AppleInsider report. The company has filed a patent titled as ‘Augmented reality maps’. If this come true, the various sensors that are placed onboard an iPhone could actually incorporate the virtual objects to user’s surroundings in real-time.
The iPhone users could able to activate the rear camera through the AR map app and can check the information about signposts, landmarks, buildings, and names on the real-time view. To perform so, the app will make use of the various sensors of the iPhone device to pinpoint the location, alignment, and tilt.
If the rumors about these implementations are to be believed, the future of iPhones is really interesting. While many companies are focusing on virtual reality advancements, Apple is pretty excited about the AR space.
In virtual reality, a specialized hardware is required to use and experience the content. On the other hand, the AR superimposes the information over the real-time surroundings. The concept of Augmented Reality becomes hugely popular after the Pokémon Go game. In this game, users are required to use the real surroundings to catch the virtual characters within the game.
To recall, Lenovo has introduced the world’s first Tango smartphone with its Phab 2 Pro device. The latest mobile, Lenovo Phab 2 Pro offers AR mode which brings the AR functionality to the smartphone including gaming, navigation and other utilities.