With all the focus being on augmented and virtual reality at the moment, it isn’t surprising to see many companies react to this trend. While it has not been officially announced by Apple, word on the street is that the Cupertino company is looking into developing augmented and virtual reality tech of their own.
Now thanks to a recently discovered patent, it seems that Apple’s plans for augmented reality might have been hinted at. The patent in question is for a “Transparent electronic device”, in which a transparent display will be used to display information overlaid on top of real-world objects, which is more or less how augmented reality will work.
For example users could hold the device up to paintings and have information about the painting, like the style, history, artist, and so on come up on the screen. The use of a transparent display will make it easier to see what you are pointing at. Like we said, Apple’s interest in the technology is well-documented.
The company acquired augmented reality company Metaio back in 2015, and we have also heard reports that they have been hiring engineers that are experts in the technology, such as those who used to work at Microsoft on the HoloLens. In any case this patent certainly does not guarantee that we will be seeing augmented reality capable iPhones in the future, but if anything it looks like Apple’s interest in the tech is there.
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