iPhone 8 may support augmented reality, analyst says

The iPhone 8 is expected to pack plenty of new features, ranging from wireless charging to an iris scanner and maybe even USB-C. Now a new report from UBS suggests it may be the first iPhone to support augmented reality (AR.)

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed that the company sees huge potential in AR over VR, but it might be bigger than he led on. UBS said in a recent note that as many as 1,000 engineers are working on AR inside Apple, with the goal of launching support for AR as soon as this year.

“According to some industry sources, the company may have over 1,000 engineers working on a project in Israel that could be related to AR,” UBS said in a note obtained by Business Insider. The note didn’t dive too much into what UBS thinks Apple will do with AR just yet, only pointing to possible mapping. “Moderate 3D mapping … and possibly an AR software development kit,” were mentioned.

AR isn’t new

AR isn’t new, indeed there are already augmented reality apps for plenty of smartphones. Apple will need to show us how it can work well, however. Sounds like it has quite a team working to do just that.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/02/28/iphone-8-may-support-augmented-reality-analyst-says/