Augmented reality is soon to be a literal reality for Apple. During Tuesday’s discussions of Apple’s second-quarter earnings, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that his company has big plans for augmented reality, or AR. This comes as little surprise given the gargantuan success of Pokémon Go in the last several weeks, which is slated to earn the Cupertino, California-based firm a staggering $3 billion in revenue over the next couple years.
When asked about future plans for AR, Cook said, “We have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We are high on AR for the long run. We think there’s great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.”
Of course, Apple is already well-suited to integrate augmented and virtual reality. As Computerworld points out, there are already a billion iOS devices out in the world, most of which are using 64-bit processors that are available in most of the active iPhone 6, 6S, and SE devices. And with the impending release of the new and improved iPhone 7, it’s likely that Apple’s hardware will become even more robust, allowing AR to take advantage of features like QuickTime, OpenGL, OpenCL, Core Audio, Quartz Composer, Core Video, Core Animation, high-quality camera specs, and awesome displays. Plus, Apple bought a company last year that deals in the AR space.
Basically, for the same reason that people already can’t get enough of Pokémon Go on their iPhones, Cook and company seem to believe that Apple’s future in AR is bright indeed.
“The number one thing is to make sure our products work well with other developers’ kind of products like Pokemon; that’s why you see so many iPhones in the wild chasing Pokemons,” Cook said.
So get ready, AR fans. If you thought that Pokémon Go was where things would end, think again. You’ve got a whole new world coming your way. And it all starts with augmented reality.
