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Apple is introducing Augmented Reality (AR) on the iPhone.
What is AR?
Augmented reality is a technology that lets you see virtual objects in your real environment by using head-mounted displays (HMDs). These devices show 3D digital content superimposed over the real world to create an immersive experience that feels like you're there.
For example, a visit to Mars might have been possible if Apple had released xrOS, enabling people to walk around with their phones showing them what they would see if they were actually on Mars.
AR works by taking the world around you and projecting computer graphics on top of it.
AR is a way to see digital images on top of the real world. It’s different from VR, which puts you in an entirely virtual world. AR is a mixture of the real world and digital images projected onto it by computers or phones with special cameras called depth sensors.
AR has been around for decades but hasn’t taken off until recently because most people don't want their lives documented on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
Apple says xrOS is designed for all the ways you could think of to use AR.
Apple says xrOS is designed for all the ways you could think of to use AR.
It's not just a gaming platform like Nintendo's Wii U or Sony's PlayStation Move controllers. It's also not just for entertainment and social media, like Facebook's Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR headsets. And it won't be limited by your phone screen size: The Apple Watch can also take advantage of this technology!
That means that when we talk about 'AR,' we're talking about an entirely new way of interacting with our phones—one that allows us to interact with virtual objects in real space (and vice versa) without requiring any special hardware or software on our device(s) at all.
To make more extensive use of the phone's CPU, GPU, and cameras, Apple has introduced a new chip dedicated to AR.
The A12 Bionic chip is the first mobile processor to use 7nm lithography. It has four cores, two of which are designed specifically for AR. The chip has a dedicated neural engine and an image signal processor (ISP).
In addition to its new CPU, GPU, and ISP capabilities, Apple is also introducing some new technology into its phones that will enable the more extensive use of its cameras:
This performance upgrade will facilitate the realistic rendering of graphics in real-time.
The XR OS is designed to facilitate realistic graphics rendering in real time. You can expect a significant performance boost with the new XR OS when using your Apple device.
There's no standalone screen device like Microsoft's HoloLens available right now.
There's no standalone screen device like Microsoft's HoloLens available right now.
The HoloLens is a full-fledged computer with its processor and operating system, but it doesn't have all the features of a smartphone or tablet. There are only two things that you can use your hands to interact with on this thing: touch (the screen) and voice commands. That means you won't be able to type anything into an app or access text messages while wearing it—you'll have to take off the headset if you want those things!
Don't expect to ditch your 2D screen or smartphone any time soon.
Think again if you’re expecting AR to replace 2D screens and smartphones. AR is an exciting technology that will play an important role in our lives, but it won't replace anything until we combine it with those other platforms.
2D screen: still the best way to display information.
The first thing to understand about Apple xrOS is that it's not trying to make your phone obsolete by replacing it with something else—it's just adding another dimension of information into an already existing ecosystem on iOS devices (and Macs). The fact that they're using their platform instead of Android shows how seriously they take user experience over gimmicks and features; they wouldn't do this if they didn't believe it was good for users!
Conclusion
The Apple xrOS is a step in the right direction, but it's still not the next big thing. There's no standalone screen device like Microsoft's HoloLens available right now.
