It is no secret that Apple believes that augmented reality (AR) is the way of the future, so much so that they’ve invested quite heavily into it, with rumors suggesting that Apple could be building its own AR headset. There is also the release of the ARKit SDK which allows developers to incorporate AR features into their apps.
Now according to AppleInsider, 2019’s iPhones could come with a “world-facing” 3D sensor that will further Apple’s plans for the technology. This is based on a research note written by Barclays in which it claims that Apple and their partners are working on the technology. What this will allow iPhone users to do is scan their surroundings in 3D, similar to what TrueDepth does, except for everything else.
In fact it seems that the technology used won’t be too different from TrueDepth as it will be a “similar but tweaked” version of the sensor. It is unclear as to what Apple plans to do with the tech and what kind of features this might result in, but given how animojis are a good example of how the front-facing cameras can be used, we imagine the same can be applied to the back as well.
In any case it does seem a bit early to start thinking of 2019’s iPhones when 2018’s models are still quite a way off from being announced, so do take it with a grain of salt for now.
Filed in . Read more about Augmented Reality (AR) and iPhone.