When Tim Cook took the stage to introduce the iPhone X on Tuesday, he prefaced it with a bold claim that the new device will “set the path of technology for the next decade.”
He’s likely not wrong.
While the new iPhone X has loads of extra pixels, an edge-to-edge display and wireless charging, its most important advancements may be the new A11 chip as well as its processor dedicated to neural network computing.
The combination of the two could finally unlock augmented reality going mainstream, changing how people use their phones going forward.
It's not a leap to believe that Apple will be the one leading the charge into augmented reality. In the last 10 years of the iPhone it has already transformed consumer behavior from thinking a portable phone was the punchline of a joke to helping consumers understand the value of the little computer in their pocket that can do everything from play music to FaceTime friends.
Now everybody walks around with their heads looking down at their phones that can do a lot more than just make calls.
On Tuesday, Cook noted that the goal posts have changed and the new phone will be ushering in a different era of computing.
"It's the greatest leap forward since the original iPhone," Cook said as he announced the iPhone X.
If Apple has placed its bets correctly , then augmented reality will be coming at consumers faster than we think — just look at how adding cameras to phones changed behavior. While the camera used to be about capturing memories, it’s shifted in the last five years to being a tool for communication as well. Companies like Snapchat empower people to take photos and send them as message updates all day long.
Now if someone is holding up a phone in front of their face, most people assume they’re taking a picture or shooting some video today. But the camera on the iPhone will soon be capable of more than capturing the world around you in that moment and sending it to friends.
The new iPhone could unlock the next wave of consumer behavior: the camera as immersive entertainment and information.
At its keynote at the new Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Apple showed off how augmented reality is a growing and important part of both the iPhone X (pronounced iPhone 10) and the iPhone 8.
In one commercial unveiled that day, two guys look like they’re filming a basketball game, but when you see the shared screen, they’re really looking at a dinosaur that looks like it’s chasing the players down the court. In other demonstrations, new AR apps overlay information about the ballgame over the live action. A different app shows the star constellations superimposed over the night sky — no action required other than pointing the camera to the sky and watching it come alive.
In the way that the introduction of the App Store launched a bunch of businesses from Uber to Pinterest, Apple’s augmented reality-filled future is already being heralded as the new platform that could seed some new billion-dollar businesses.
Gaming company Directive Games, for example, has already made a multi-player game built for playing in augmented reality. IKEA already has directed a staff of 70 people to experiment with Apple's ARKit developer platform.
While the adoption of augmented reality won't happen overnight, it will also happen faster than people probably think, thanks in part to the stepping stone that is the newest iPhone. Camera-first augmented reality is just one of the first applications of the technology and there's plenty of people who still argue that the future will be everyone wearing AR-enabled glasses.
Until then, Apple has quietly introduce the world to augmented reality's potential through its new camera and a chip that can actually power the applications. Cook isn't wrong that the device he built will set the technological agenda for the next decade — and with it change once again how people use their phones.
