Apple Buys Augmented Reality Lens Startup Akonia Holographics

It's looking more and more likely that Apple is developing its own augmented reality (AR) headset.

Apple confirmed to Reuters that is has acquired Colorado-based Akonia Holographics, a six-year-former startup that builds displays and lenses for AR glasses. No purchase price or official acquisition date were announced; Apple gave Reuters its boilerplate argument on the motion: "Apple buys smaller companies from fourth dimension to fourth dimension, and we generally don't discuss our purpose or plans."

Akonia's HoloMirror technology is designed for what the startup calls "volume holography." That means a unmarried layer of media projected onto a sparse, transparent and low-cost display with full colour performance and field-of-view for use in lightweight smart glasses. The company'south website states it has more than than 200 patents related to holographic systems and materials, which now belong to Apple.

As companies likes Magic Spring accept shown, it's exceedingly hard to pack an immersive AR or mixed reality experience into a grade factor modest and stylish enough for mass consumption. Akonia gives Apple a potential solution for producing crisp optical AR displays that are cheap and light enough to ability Apple's long-rumored smart spectacles, which may be coming as early every bit 2022 co-ordinate to Bloomberg.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been talking up the potential of AR for a few years now, but until this point Apple tree has focused on the software development side and smartphone-based augmented experiences a la Pokemon Get.

The company's ARKit, released in 2022, lets developers create 3D apps and experiences for iPhones and iPads. Forth with Google'due south ARCore, these AR dev kits accept led to an explosion in AR app development as the tech giants aim to solve one of the biggest AR/VR problems first: making sure there's enough content. At WWDC earlier this year, Apple even unveiled a new file format called USDZ created expressly for AR.

Apple tree has plenty of contest in the space on both the hardware and software side. Platforms like Unity, Unreal Engine, and Amazon's Sumerian are all designed to create immersive 3D experiences for AR/VR.

On the hardware side, head-mounted experiences range from AR and mixed reality glasses to full-blown VR headsets. Apple's chief rival on this front would likely be Microsoft, which has its HoloLens headset and its own mixed reality software platform powering a range of partner devices in the Windows Mixed Reality ecosystem.

Yet Apple tree is not afraid to burst into a new market with a stylish new product that upends the competition. Information technology may be a few years before we see the Akonia acquisition come to fruition, but there are a lot of things Apple could do with thin holographic display engineering science.

Virtually Rob Marvin

Rob Marvin

Rob Marvin is PCMag's Acquaintance Features Editor. He writes features, news, and trend stories on all style of emerging technologies. Beats include: startups, business and venture capital, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, augmented and virtual reality, IoT and automation, legal cannabis tech, social media, streaming, security, mobile commerce, M&A, and entertainment. Rob was previously Assistant Editor and Associate Editor in PCMag's Concern section. Prior to that, he served as an editor at SD Times. He graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. You lot tin can besides find his business and tech coverage on Entrepreneur and Fox Business. Rob is also an unabashed nerd who does occasional entertainment writing for …