Tech

Snapchat Is Stepping Up Its Augmented Reality To Hardware

Franz Cube
First Posted: Sep 07, 2016 04:35 AM EDT

Most people do not realize that Snapchat's interactive filter is actually a basic form of augmented reality. Snapchat's experiments on augmented reality through its filters gained the company a good grasp on the marketability of augmented reality too public. Then it should be no surprise that Snapchat is leveling up from software to making its own wearable hardware.

According to Tech Times, Snapchat joined Bluetooth Special Interest Group in the hopes of creating its very own set of AR hardware. The company made several acquisitions and patents that hints the involvement of AR technology. One of the acquisitions is the Vergence Labs, a small start-up tech company manufacturing AR glasses way back 2014. The said app based social network company also patented several AR. They also hired more experts in both AR software and hardware.

Snapchats exploration to the unknown world of hardware tech is definitely a bold move for the company. However, people are cynical about Snapchat making AR hardware. According to BGR, Snapchat is not exactly the type of company known to provide services which are "productive". If we base it to the current Snapchat wacky filters and fancy user interface, the company has not yet matured to produce a productivity oriented hardware. Augmented reality is not yet fully embraced by consumers who were used to screen interface so we can assume that it has not yet established a strong market.

Aside from that, even some of the biggest tech giants in the Silicon Valley, Google with Google Glass and Microsoft with Hololens, struggled in marketing its AR hardware so how do you think Snapchat will turn things around.

Nonetheless, there's no denying that tech companies are really stepping out of reality to build probably the future for all interface technology-the virtual and augmented reality. This rest assures us that these alternative realities are not just here to stay, but also dominate in the very near future.

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