Niantic, the creator of the popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go, is set to release its own AR headset in 2023. The headset, which is still in development, aims to revolutionize the field of augmented reality, allowing users to enjoy their favorite games and apps in a completely new way. In this article, we’ll explore the upcoming Niantic AR headset, including its release date, cost, and features.
Niantic, an American software developer with its main office in San Francisco, California, was established in 2010 as a startup within Google before spinning off to become a separate business in 2015. Niantic is best known for creating a range of augmented reality mobile games, including Ingress, Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Catan: World Explorers. These games have gained millions of players worldwide and cemented Niantic’s position at the forefront of the AR gaming sector.
Niantic’s upcoming AR headset is being developed in collaboration with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces, a platform that allows developers to build immersive experiences using Snapdragon processors. Lightship, Niantic’s proprietary visual positioning technology (VPS) used in their existing games, is expected to be used in the AR headset to enable precise positioning of virtual objects in the real world. The Lightship VPS is anticipated to be compatible with Snapdragon Spaces in 2023, allowing programmers to deploy the technology in various hardware and software.
While the exact release date for the Niantic AR headset has not been announced, it is expected to go on sale in 2023. Niantic has not released any pricing details for the headset, but the company has indicated that it aims for an affordable price point that will appeal to a wider spectrum of consumers. Balancing the headset’s price with the need for cutting-edge technology is a challenge that Niantic will need to address, as augmented reality technology requires powerful CPUs, advanced cameras, and other expensive gear to produce.
The AR headset will incorporate two important technologies: Lightship and Snapdragon AR2, a family of CPUs developed by Qualcomm. Lightship allows AR experiences to be tied to specific real-world places, which has already been used in Niantic’s existing AR games to create rich, location-based experiences. The Snapdragon AR2 CPU is specifically designed to run AR hardware, ensuring that the Niantic AR headset can handle difficult graphics and processing tasks to create amazing AR experiences.
A crucial part of the Niantic AR headset is Lightship’s visual positioning system (VPS), which guarantees to provide users with extremely precise AR experiences. Lightship can recognize and track real-world objects and surfaces with high accuracy using computer vision and machine learning, allowing digital content to be overlaid with excellent precision. Niantic’s use of Lightship enables the development of highly interactive, user-responsive AR games and applications that improve user engagement and enjoyment.
In conclusion, the Niantic AR headset is eagerly awaited and predicted to be a significant player in the expanding AR sector. The headset offers a competitively priced, accurate, and realistic AR experience thanks to its patented Lightship visual positioning algorithm and compatibility with Snapdragon Spaces. Niantic’s past experience with AR games like Pokemon Go and Ingress offers the opportunity for the company to develop unique and cutting-edge AR experiences using its expertise and technology. The success of the Niantic AR headset will depend on how it stacks up against rivals like Magic Leap and Meta in terms of price, feature set, and user uptake. Regardless of the outcome, Niantic’s emphasis on developing centimeter-accurate AR experiences using Lightship technology may create new opportunities for AR applications in various industries.