The company continues to add to its ranks virtual and augmented reality companies for its viewer that could arrive in 2020.
Apple, which could be working on a hybrid viewfinder with 8K displays, has acquired the startup Akonia Holography specialized in the creation of lenses for augmented reality viewers, as the company has confirmed to Reuters, although it has not come to share the reasons for the acquisition. “Apple buys small businesses from time to time, and we usually don’t discuss our purpose or plans,” they say. None of those involved has shared the price or the date of the purchase, although according to Reuters sources, the operation could have taken place during the first half of 2018.
This is not the first time that Apple has acquired companies related to VR and AR technologies, as they have already acquired companies such as eye-tracking startup SMI and viewer manufacturer Vrana.
Akonia is an American company founded in 2012 that had initially focused on the storage of holographic data, making the leap later towards the creation of screens for augmented reality viewers. Its technology allows small lenses that display”vibrant, full-color, wide-angle-of-view (FOV) images”. It is possible that Akonia technology allows them to create a viewfinder in the shape of glasses, something for which they also have their patented retro-reflector system.
The Apple viewer could arrive in 2020, as pointed out the latest news that jumped in April about the possibility of being a viewer capable of offering both augmented and virtual reality.
