Apple Buys Augmented Reality Sartup Akonia Holographics For an Undisclosed Sum

As role of its rumored plans to innovate augmented reality devices in the time to come, Apple has now acquired a Colorado-based tech startup called Akonia Holographics that makes AR spectacles for wearable devices. The exact terms of the deal remain unknown.

The iPhone-maker has confirmed the report, but refused to requite any details about what the acquisition may mean for the company going forward. In a press statement issued Wednesday, the company said, "Apple buys smaller companies from time to fourth dimension, and we generally don't discuss our purpose or plans". Reuters couldn't reach Akonia for its comments.

Apple Acquires Augmented Reality Startup Akonia Holographics

Founded in 2012 in Longmont, Colorado, Akonia is believed to have started out working on 'holographic data storage' technology, and amassed over 200 patents related to holographics earlier changing tack to focus on AR. The visitor's display technology reportedly allows for "sparse, transparent smart glass lenses that display vibrant, full-color, wide field-of-view images".

The conquering of Akonia is yet some other proof that Apple is, indeed, working on Augmented Reality, equally has frequently been rumored in recent times. While there'southward no concrete info most how close the visitor is to releasing a consumer product, the latest development suggests that it is fully committed to the technology, and is very probable well on its style to designing something that might finally bring the technology to mainstream consumers.

While it may all the same accept a while for Apple to release AR hardware, the company concluding year introduced ARKit, an Application Programming Interface (API) that is somewhat like to Google'southward ARCore insomuch equally information technology lets third-party developers congenital Augmented Reality apps for mobile devices. Since the API was fabricated available last yr, millions of ARKit apps accept been downloaded from the App Store, and that number is only probable to increase exponentially going forward.