Apple Joins The XR Revolution
Apple's WWDC is all about the company's decision to join the XR revolution. The company didn't say as much, but many of the announcements made today center on virtual reality or augmented reality, both directly and indirectly. The iMac got better discrete graphics, MacBooks got support for external GPUs, macOS got an updated graphics API, and iOS got a suite of new-to-Apple technologies called ARKit.
The Mac Sprints Into VR With Support From HTC, Steam, Epic Games, Unity
WWDC kicked off with a bunch of updates for the Mac. (There was also stuff about Amazon Prime Video heading to Apple products and new features for the Apple Watch.) First came the news about supporting external GPUs. Then came the iMac Pro, which will ship with dedicated graphics powered by AMD's Vega GPU architecture, and then there were updates to existing Macs. These updates are sure to please anyone gaming on a Mac, but those improvements are probably secondary to finally bringing VR support to macOS.
That was made clear by the software announcement Apple squeezed in between those hardware updates: Valve is bringing Steam VR to macOS, and both Unreal Engine and Unity will allow developers to create VR experiences for the Mac. This means devs will be able to create and distribute VR software for macOS. Apple didn't say much about how you'll experience those apps, but HTC sent Tom's Hardware this message:
Moments ago at WWDC, Apple announced they are embracing VR and demo’d [sic] VIVE. Vive represents the best VR experience in the market and Apple is validating that by demo'ing [sic] Vive on stage for developers and content creators who are making the future experiences that will drive the Virtual Reality industry for years to come. [...] The momentum Vive has right now with the biggest tech brands across the globe is unmatched. Recent announcements and partnerships with Google, Intel and now Apple, all in the last month alone, show that Vive is the most preferred VR platform available.
Mark another "win" for HTC--in the last month alone, the company announced that Vive will head to Google's updated Daydream platform and, now, helped Apple announce its entry into VR. It's also a "win" for Apple. All the graphics cards in all the world can't let someone experience VR without the requisite software (made by tools like Unreal Engine and Unity) and content delivery platforms (like Steam VR) with support for HMDs (like the Vive). The company didn't take a baby step into VR; it sprinted to catch up to all the progress Windows PCs have made in recent years.
ARKit Brings Mobile AR To The iPhone
Apple didn't focus only on its desktop platform. The company also announced that iOS 11, which is set to debut this fall, will include a new ARKit platform. The company made a point of contrasting ARKit with the "augmented reality" found in apps like Pokemon Go. That game might have helped familiarize people with the concept of AR, but it didn't meet the strictest definition of the term, which requires the digital world to respond to the physical one. ARKit is not Pokemon Go. Rather, it's Apple's response to Google's Tango platform, as you can see in its list of features:
Fast, stable motion trackingPlane estimation with basic boundariesAmbient lighting estimationScale estimationSupport for Unity, Unreal, SceneKitXcode app templates
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Apple showed off ARKit with a simple demo involving the placement of a virtual mug on a coffee table. The mug detected the table's position, of course, and rested on top of it. Then a virtual lamp joined the party, and Apple called attention to the dynamic shadow created by the mug. If that wasn't exciting enough (and if you're familiar with AR it probably wasn't), it also had Wingnut AR demo a game on that same table. The whole thing "lived" on the table and responded to whatever the phone's camera picked up. Again--not mind-blowing, but still pretty neat.
Some devs, including Ikea and Pokemon Go developer Niantic, have already signed on to make AR apps for iOS devices. Apple didn't offer much information about the ARKit's requirements, but it did claim that it will be "the largest AR platform in the world" when it debuts, and that "hundreds of millions" of iPhones will be part of that platform. Unless the company's planning to sell hundreds of millions of units of the next iPhone (which wasn't announced today), that means at least some of the current models will be able to offer some form of AR experience.
End To End For A Quick Beginning
It's not hard to figure out why Apple had to play catch-up with the XR industry: Its desktop hardware is weak, macOS isn't all that attractive to game devs, and it simply didn't offer the tools developers would need to implement AR on iOS. All of these problems stemmed from the company's much tighter grip on its products than its competitors. Windows users are free to pop in a graphics card as soon as their wallets and systems allow. The software is more open, too, which has long made it the platform of choice for game devs and innovators alike.
Similar things are true about the mobile side. Google had a head start on XR because Android is a much larger platform that runs on devices of varying power. Manufacturers are free to do pretty much anything they want with Android, and that frees up Google to introduce platforms that other companies have the option to support or not support. Microsoft and Google both have the flexibility needed to quickly adopt emerging tech.
But that can also be a problem for those companies. Microsoft believes XR is the future of Windows, sure, but what's it going to do to make that future happen? It has very little control over the hardware you put in your system, and although it can define specs for manufacturers all day long, those hardware makers are mostly left to their own devices. And that bit about manufacturers being free to support or not support Tango? Many have chosen the latter. Right now you have very few options for a Tango smartphone--the Asus ZenFone AR and the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.
Apple's control over its platforms means that soon, many of its customers will have XR-capable products whether they care about XR or not. There are some configuration options (beefier processors, displays of varying sizes or resolution, storage type and space, etc.), but for the most part, an iMac Pro is going to be an iMac Pro. If you buy one, you're going to have VR available to you. An iPhone is an iPhone. If you buy one, or even if you simply update a recent model to iOS 11, you're going to have AR available to you. Apple has deemed it, and so it shall be.
Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.
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bit_user Apple showed off ARKit with a simple demo involving the placement of a virtual mug on a coffee table. The mug detected the table's position, of course, and rested on top of it. Then a virtual lamp joined the party, and Apple called attention to the dynamic shadow created by the mug. If that wasn't exciting enough (and if you're familiar with AR it probably wasn't), it also had Wingnut AR demo a game on that same table. The whole thing "lived" on the table and responded to whatever the phone's camera picked up. Again--not mind-blowing, but still pretty neat.
It's not mind-blowing for something with a depth sensor or at least stereo cameras. I'll have to hunt down the vid, because it might actually be quite good for a legacy device.
It'd be interesting to hear a comparison of this video vs. facebook's. In Facebook's demos, Zuckerberg didn't move the phone very much. For FB, AR on existing phones is still in beta, and they could probably just delay it until the market/hardware is there.
But if Apple releases this on existing iPhones, and it's not rock solid, they'll come away looking pretty bad. People expect Apple stuff to just work.
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DarkSable Wait. Ikea is making an app? As in a way to virtualize in XR how a given piece of somewhat-shoddy, obviously misassembled furniture will look / fit in your home?Reply
If so, that's actually pretty cool. -
VR dev ""The company didn't take a baby step into VR; it sprinted to catch up to all the progress Windows PCs have made in recent years.".... ???????? As someone who prefers osx, but makes his living developing VR and AR for brands, I disagree! Price points for comparable GPU implementation, as well as a lack of a top line GPU availability on their new iMac, or any other Mac internally... Makes this a ruse. Mobile VR on iOS? Not on their low Rez screens. There will be no daydream or gear VR competition until they get some real mobile resolution on their gear. Oculus support? Nope. They have the cash, they're just sitting around waiting. Apple fanboys can't wait to write the story that Apple invented VR the second they even react to the market. That isn't helpful. They have had so many miscues with the Mac lately, they've lost the pro user market, which they could have absolutely owned, but stagnated with the flattening of the CPU curve, missing the linear improvement of the GPU, and losing three years of graphics innovation. Tim cook is no Steve Jobs. The same thing is happening in slow motion between iOS and Android, as well.Reply -
bit_user
Thanks for your insights. I'm looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on VR news, in the future.19780884 said:As someone who prefers osx, but makes his living developing VR and AR for brands, I disagree!
Welcome! -
dark_lord69 Nice to see Apple getting into AR.Reply
With both Apple and Microsoft planning AR we can expect to see more AR applications. Based on what I've seen and experienced so far I can't wait to see what happens when this sh** goes more mainstream.
I can think of an AR app that needs to be made ASAP. :)
It would be killer app level and a person/company could make millions, dev would need to start immediately and big budget and/or investors will be needed. The market potential is HUGE. -
falchard Hold on while I develop a VR game for a $5000 Mac Pro using Metal API. I am sure the 50 or so people who will use that as their VR platform will shell out enough money for it to be worth my time.Reply -
dark_lord69 19785369 said:Hold on while I develop a VR game for a $5000 Mac Pro using Metal API. I am sure the 50 or so people who will use that as their VR platform will shell out enough money for it to be worth my time.
yeah, just charge $100,000 for the game; they will buy it!
He's right though... the market potential for a MAC VR platform is almost no-one.
On the other hand the market potential for an iPhone AR application is epic huge.
(Apple has sold billions of iPhones... Literally)