Facebook Announcement

In a series of news about the OnePlus 5, the company posted its first teaser of the upcoming device on its Weibo account. According to GSM Arena, the teaser doesn't show us any sneak peaks of what the phone might look like — co-founder Carl Pei took care of that — though, we a ...more

Google's Allo is still a work in progress, but the innovations to the chat and messaging app just keep on coming. The latest update rolling out now includes chat backups and a group incognito feature that we're very excited about. On Wednesday, Amit Fulay, the Head of Product ...more

Listen up, fool! You can now get a (loud) nudge in the right direction by Mr. T, thanks to Waze. The navigation app has incorporated a few well-known voices over the past few years, but none have had us more excited than the addition of this beloved fixture of the 1980s. Waze ...more

While the numbers may not always seem to agree, the message remains the same: augmented reality is a growth segment. This week's edition of Market Reality starts with two new reports outlining the expected good fortunes for the industry and concludes with an example of a compa ...more

When will the drama end? The lawsuit between Waymo and Uber is back in the news with no signs of stopping. Today the court denied yet another request from Uber to shield itself with the fifth amendemnent, securing a small victory for Waymo. Let's recap where we are with this ...more

Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This weekly Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. This week's column starts with a stock price ...more

The rumor mill surrounding the iPhone 8 is churning this week, and not necessarily in a good way. Yesterday, we learned Apple may be leaving the 3D camera out of the next big iPhone to keep the phone on schedule. Today, rumors allege the 10th-anniversary edition of Apple's sma ...more

Mercedes-Benz's parent company, Daimler, announced their intention today to put self-driving taxis on the road in three years or less in a partnership with Bosch. The program will reportedly be an Uber-like experience, from hailing a cab from your smartphone, to having a huma ...more

During the last few months, WhatsApp's Google Play Store ratings have been tanking—all the way down to an average of 3.4 stars from the instant messenger's usual average of 4.1. Within the last week, though, WhatsApp has received thousands of seemingly fake 5-star reviews that ...more

In an early morning blog post, Microsoft announced the expansion of the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program. This announcement comes on the tail of an expanded HoloLens release over the last few months to many countries outside the initial US and Canada. Micro ...more

In a press event this past week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, Unity Labs, the experimental and forward thinking arm of Unity, announced an upcoming toolset for developers in the augmented, mixed, and virtual reality space called the XR Foundat ...more

If you're in the Windows Holographic community of developers, make sure to mark your calendar and set your alarms for February 8, 2017 because it's Windows Developer Day. This event, hosted by Microsoft, will be live-streamed for any developer who wants to watch, and will giv ...more

With the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Fransisco just a few weeks away, Microsoft Senior Program Manager Vlad Kolesnikov has announced via Channel9 (Microsoft's developer news outlet) that not only will new low-cost virtual reality headsets be coming in March to deve ...more

Meta's long-awaited Meta 2 development kit finally began shipping in late-December last year, after having been delayed about six months. While very few have received a dev kit at this point, some more information about the headset has just been announced; Depth-sensing techno ...more

Magic Leap, the mysterious Florida-based mixed reality start-up, announced on Wednesday that it would be opening a 260,000 square-foot expansion in Florida, and bringing along with it 725 new jobs over a five-year period. To make this happen, they will be making an $150 millio ...more

Earlier this week, a mysterious tweet appeared on the HTC Twitter account of a picture containing the letter "U" topped with a tiny "for" and the date "01.12.2017" at the bottom. It is a pretty solid teaser, but for a company that has had a solid year with their Vive virtual r ...more

This week, Dr. Sung-Hoon Hong, Vice President of Samsung Electronics, announced at the Virtual Reality Summit in San Diego that not only does Samsung have a new virtual reality headset coming, but that Samsung intends to enter the field of augmented reality, too. In fact, Hong ...more

Google and Microsoft have both established platforms and hardware for emerging digital realities, but Apple, true to form, hasn't had much to say on the subject. They've shown interest in augmented reality, and we've seen patent filings that indicate research and development, ...more

Microsoft's HoloLens may the coolest new advancements in technology we've seen in quite some time, and anyone (with deep pockets) can buy one right now. But so far it's been an isolated platform where you experience mixed reality alone and others watch you air tap nothing but ...more

If you just can't wait to see the Pixel and Pixel XL, the new Google-branded smartphones expected to be announced tomorrow, you're in luck. After weeks of rumors and blurry images, a smartphone sales company called Carphone Warehouse just accidentally dropped the entire ball. ...more

We've been hearing rumors suggesting that the upcoming iPhone 7 would be announced a bit early this year—perhaps being unveiled as soon as September 7, with preorders opening up a day or two after. The actual release date was originally rumored to be the following week, but a ...more

Facebook today has unleashed a new way to creep...er...keep in touch with "friends" using the official Facebook apps on Android and iOS. Dubbed Nearby Friends, the new feature will allow you to see which friends are close by and share your precise location with them for a set ...more

Snapchat may trail Facebook and Instagram in terms of daily active users, but a new partnership with Samsung may get those innovative AR Lenses onto the mobile devices of a lot more users. Non-fungible tokens, perhaps the hottest segment of the blockchain tech industry at the ...more

The coronavirus continues to disrupt the tech industry, including the augmented reality segment, with Apple and the iPhone the latest to feel the impact. After the cancellation of Mobile World Congress due to the virus outbreak, HTC proceeded with its unveiling of HTC Vive pr ...more

In his famous 1996 "Content is King" essay, Bill Gates predicted that content is where tech companies will make money on the Internet. The adage clearly holds true in the current phase of augmented reality experience. For example, Magic Leap, Snapchat, Facebook, Google, 8th W ...more

It's the holiday season, and the tech industry is giving consumers several AR products and apps as gift-giving options. When Facebook started shipping Portal TV on Nov. 5, it marked a milestone as the first mainstream AR device for televisions. We had a chance to run it throu ...more

Smartglasses from Apple have become the holy grail of augmented reality, and 2020 has been the rumored time horizon for the product's arrival for the past two years. The latest analyst report sheds more light on its potential debut next year. In the present day, though, Sony ...more

Facebook had a pretty big week in terms of augmented reality, with much of its news coming from the Oculus 6 keynote presentation. But Mark Zuckerberg's social media company found other areas of impact outside of Oculus 6 as well. Meanwhile, Unity also had its own keynote pre ...more

The annual Augmented World Expo (AWE) typically packs the front page of Next Reality with new products and services from companies in the augmented reality industry. However, this year, some of the biggest business news came from outside the conference, as ownership of two of ...more

Almost half a year after we broke the story about the demise of Meta Company, there's good news for fans of the augmented reality startup — a rebirth is at hand. As we reported months ago, a new owner, called Meta View, is in control of Meta's assets, but now the new group is ...more

After a rough run of news, smartglasses maker North still has the confidence of investors, as evidenced by its latest round of funding. Speaking of smartglasses, Google will continue to court businesses over consumers, as the tech giant announced its next-generation of Glass ...more

Magic Leap and Samsung are putting their money where their augmented reality plans are, with the former acquiring an AR collaboration technology and the latter funding a waveguide display maker. Meanwhile, Lenovo and startup Tilt Five are preparing their own augmented reality ...more

While some widely praised immersive computing initiatives at Google are shutting down, over at Epic Games things are just ramping up, and it involves quite a bit of cash available to indie augmented reality developers and startups alike. At this week's Game Developers Confere ...more

After launching its first augmented reality title for Angry Birds on the Magic Leap One, Rovio has doubled back to the platform that made its franchise famous. That's right, the puzzle game is coming back to iPhones and iPads in Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs, leveraging the surfa ...more

While the long awaited HoloLens sequel is scheduled to arrive later this year, Apple may force Microsoft to share the AR wearables spotlight, if reports of the company's first entry into smartglasses territory end up coming to fruition. In the meantime, Microsoft's HoloLens 2 ...more

On Sunday, Microsoft did what everyone expected the company to do by unveiling the long awaited HoloLens 2. Its main competitor in the AR headset space, Magic Leap, responded with a flurry of announcements, including a new partnership with South Korea's SK Telecom and a new a ...more

Smartglasses maker Vuzix has emerged with the first hardware powered by the Snapdragon XR1 chip, roughly nine months after Qualcomm introduced the chipset designed to drive augmented reality wearables at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara. On Monday, at the Mobile World ...more

The era of smartglasses designed for consumers has officially begun, as shipments of North Focals began arriving at its stores this week. And the company now has plans to expand its retail footprint. Meanwhile, a new player is emerging in the 3D content creation market, curre ...more

With CES in full swing, it seemed like Magic Leap would have little to announce at the major tech event, but it turns out that one of its partners has weighed in with a rather substantial update regarding the company. On Wednesday, AT&T announced that it would be expanding it ...more

Location-based gaming pioneer Niantic has been preparing its flavor of AR cloud, the Niantic Real World Platform, to bring more realistic and interactive augmented reality experiences to mobile apps. And now the company is looking for a few good developers to help execute its ...more

Mobile augmented reality pioneer Blippar has now completed its fall from hopeful AR startup to the immersive computing history books. On Monday, Blippar confirmed via a blog post that it has entered administration, the UK equivalent of bankruptcy in the US. The announcement c ...more

When the announcement of the Cheddar app for Magic Leap first went out on Tuesday morning, the app was not available on my updated Magic Leap One (located in New York City). However, after checking throughout the day, I can confirm that the app is now live. The free app downl ...more

The team at Magic Leap just got a millennial-style boost with the announcement that financial news network Cheddar is coming to the Magic Leap One. Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg revealed the news in a surprise tweet early Tuesday morning. Don't Miss: Hands-On with Magic Leap's A ...more

Snapchat is joining the ranks of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple in the trend toward streaming original programming, but with a twist that rings true to its roots. Three of the company's new shows debuted Wednesday in the Stories section of the Snapchat app for iOS ...more

If you own a Google Pixel, you'll soon have augmented reality versions of Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Childish Gambino on your camera. During its now-annual consumer hardware launch event, Google unveiled its rebrand of ARCore showcase AR Stickers, now known as Playgro ...more

While the three new iPhones won't even be announced until Sept. 12 during Apple's fall event, case makers are already primed for the launch of the devices. Some case designs are already live on manufacturer websites, and you can even buy or preorder cases for the iPhone XR, iP ...more

If you subscribe to notifications for Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz's Twitter feed, you'd think everyone in the world already has a Magic Leap One. Alas, that is not the case, but those not within the geographic areas of Magic Leap's LiftOff service now have a loophole through w ...more

The latest version in Epson's Moverio line of smartglasses looks to offer a headworn window into the world that prioritizes versatility as well as mobility. While previous generations of Moverio smartglasses have been tethered to Android-based controllers, the Moverio BT-35E ...more

Look, we all like getting things for free. That's why we can stomach things like advertisements and optional purchases in freemium apps and games — we're willing to pay for our mobile experiences in every way but currency. Although freemium seems to be the model for the future ...more

We've seen all the Magic Leap One glamour shots, and we've even shown you a bit of what it looks like to view augmented reality on the device. But there's something else us super geeks appreciate more than anyone else: the grand unboxing! I met Magic Leap's Enjoy representati ...more

The long, long, loooong wait finally ended this week for the augmented reality community as the Magic Leap One was finally released. The Florida-based company has loomed over the industry for years promising something big, and now the AR cat is finally out of the bag. Now we g ...more

The arrival of Magic Leap One is tantalizingly close and, although the company has been saving the last details for launch day, a few of the more important details were found this week hiding deep in the code on Magic Leap's website. While Magic Leap's AR hardware will be her ...more

Magic Leap has earned a reputation for overt secrecy, but as it nears the highly-anticipated launch of the Magic Leap One, the company is spilling some of the beans. This week, we get a heaping helping of information on the Lumin OS, as well as a couple of great demos. Meanwh ...more

If you're not impressed with the current crop of AR content, and you're worried this may put a damper on the industry's growth, these stories should give you cause for some optimism. As Magic Leap builds momentum in the run-up to the launch of its Magic Leap One headset, the ...more

As it prepares to ship its first product by the end of the summer, Magic Leap has managed to impress yet another high-profile investor in telecommunications giant AT&T. In addition to the investment, AT&T will serve as the exclusive wireless distribution partner for the consu ...more

Last month was a whirlwind for the augmented reality industry, with the Augmented World Expo, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, and an exciting Magic Leap Twitch livestream all wrapping up before the ides of June. Now that we've had a chance to fully digest it all, we h ...more

While it has been slower to arrive than a walker limping through thick Georgia mud, location-based augmented reality game Walking Dead: Our World finally has a confirmed launch date: July 12. Along with a release date, the game's publisher, Next Games, has provided a few more ...more

Augmented reality is really picking up steam as a tool for marketing departments to pitch their products. Over the past week or so, we've seen numerous examples of the augmented reality used to promote events in the world of entertainment. In the movie business, Disney/Pixar ...more

At present, consumer-facing augmented reality is a mobile world, and Snapchat is making money on it through advertising partnerships. The future, however, is in wearables, and that future is getting closer. While Magic Leap is lining up content for the launch of Magic Leap On ...more

Last week's Augmented World Expo felt like a distant memory by this Monday, as Apple unveiled ARKit 2.0 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Certainly, this news would overshadow anything augmented reality this week as it nearly eclipsed AWE when early reports leaked ...more