Latest AR Hardware

Types of AR hardware

There are two major types of AR hardware: handheld and head-worn. This lesson covers these types in greater detail.

Handheld

Smartphones are a good handheld source to embed digital objects in our physical world. It's an easy and cheap way of interacting with digital content in physical space, allowing a greater and more immersive user experience. Some excellent handheld AR applications are used in gaming, location-based services, and e-commerce. For example, Pokémon Go integrates virtual characters into the real world, Sky Map uses GPS data to locate stars and galaxies, and Google Translate uses the device’s camera to translate text. Many of the latest phones, such as iPhone and Android, support this.

Head-worn

Head-worn AR works the same; however, rather than holding the device, users wear it on their heads to visualize and interact with digital content in real space. This allows for a much more immersive experience and can be used in gaming, collaborative work, and data visualization applications. For example, HoloLens by Microsoft enables users to explore 3D holographic objects in real-world environments, and Google Glass by Google lets users view notifications and search the internet hands-free.

AR headsets

Let’s explore some of the latest AR headsets in this section.

Apple Vision Pro