At the just-opened WWDC2018, Apple rarely released a piece of hardware. Instead, it put the absolute focus of the conference on software upgrades. Indeed, to meet the mobile platform strong Android and PC platform overlord Windows Big rivals, Apple's software strategy is not to lose.
Hot AR market
In the field of mobile phones, as an old rival of iOS system, Android has just released the latest version of AR development software - ARcore 1.2 in May. Seeing that Android has taken actions, Apple is not slow to launch the latest ARkit2.0 development tools.
Looking at the strength of the two sides in the AR battle field, we can already foresee that in the second half of the year, the mobile AR battlefield will surely be a smoke gun. Who will be the ultimate winner? We will fight against the top names of these two mobile phones from the following three aspects: Force value PK.
I. Technology Strength PK
The first is Android. In August 2017, in the face of Apple ARkit, Android started to develop ARcore as an Augmented Reality SDK tool. Earlier ARCore also retained part of the old legacy products of the Tango platform, but with Android in the AR Increased investment in the field, ARcore version is constantly updated, sensors that are already available on gyroscopes and other mobile phones as ARcore support equipment to complete positioning and motion tracking.
Tango Becomes a Victim of Google's R&D of ARcore
And Apple's ARkit is ahead of Android's ARcore in its release time. Apple officially proposed the ARkit tool at the 2017 WWDC Conference, and all Apple devices equipped with A9 and above processors can use this feature. According to Apple CEO Cook Said: ARkit mainly has 3 layers of core technology. The first layer is fast and stable world positioning, including real-time calculations, motion positioning, no preset (software and hardware). The second layer is plane and boundary-aware collision test and light estimation, let The virtual content seamlessly interfaces with the real-life environment. The third layer, rendering, supports various rendering authoring tools, the goal is to be easy to use, and it is well integrated with other plug-ins.
Apple's ARkit is more technologically mature
By comparison, Apple's ARkit technology has matured from the very beginning, and its product queues are neat, which guarantees compatibility.
The Android company's ARcore is a bit of a half-way, meaning that it will take time and effort to abandon the AR technology of the Tango switch to the Android platform. And the Android platform's terminal queues are uneven, different performance configurations, and various system matching degrees. The difference is that ARcore has become the biggest obstacle to ARkit.
PK results: In terms of scientific and technological strength, ARkit is slightly better than ARcore.
Second, partner PK
At the WWDC2018 conference, Apple announced that its ARkit development tools will be officially launched on the Unity platform, meaning that all Unity developers will be able to independently complete development of Apple App applications that support AR after learning the ARkit development framework. In addition, Unreal Engine, Adobe, Lego Pixar has announced that it has reached a partnership with Apple ARkit. Apple's director of this 10,000 family, the top giants from all walks of life have pulled to help out, but also for their own 0.84% of the stock price has closed up.
Apple and Adobe Collaborate on New File Formats
Compared to Apple's ARkit's great momentum, Google is a lot of low-key. Because apart from the software development aspect of the partnership, Google still has a major problem to be solved - a layered product queue. In November last year, Google announced with Samsung. Cooperation, and the first to join the ARcore tool in their own Pixel series mobile phones. Google I/O conference last month, Google announced China's first partner - Xiaomi, while the next step will be a number of Android mobile phone manufacturers to reach a partnership.
Google's PartyNow application launched with Mito
From the second point of view, Apple's global partners can be said to be in various fields in the industry, truly pushing ARkit to a comprehensive development path. By contrast, Google is paying more attention to the use of different mobile phone users. This big cake in the Chinese market was in the grip. From the mobile phone market research report in 2017, the market share of Android mobile phones is as high as 85%. If Google can concentrate on technology compatibility and do bottom-up promotion, then ARcore will It will win without fighting.
PK results: In the partnership, Google's ARcore is inherently 'mastic' attributed. Therefore, ARcore is better than ARkit.
Third, strategic direction PK
In the strategic direction, from the recent frequent actions of Apple on ARkit, we can see that they pay more attention to the technical level of excellence, and each push further requires a relatively large upgrade in technology. For example, on this WWDC2018, Apple announced Pixar. Animation has launched a new AR file format - USDZ, and Adobe, AutoDesk, Sketchfab and other companies have released support for USDZ. As an embedded 3D file, USDZ can not only be directly embedded in the web page display, but also can be used directly. For AR applications, it is convenient for developers or users to see it directly in the real world.
Apple and Lego Collaborate on AR Applications
On the other side, Google is paying more attention to the promotion of technology. After entering the domestic market, Google has started cooperation with APPs of many domestic Internet companies to jointly promote the popularization of technology.
ARcore installed Xiaomi MIX 2S
From this point, it is difficult to see who these two companies have more advantages. One is doing technology and one is doing operations. Both of these development methods are not bad in the era of AR.
PK results: tie.
Conclusion: The two companies are also very clear about the way the current AR is shared, integrated, and socially entertained. How to progress, how to take the next move, the two companies also have their own plans. The current market layout of both parties has been To be clear, let us look forward to their wonderful performance in the second half of the year.
Markets such as battlefields, the situation is changing rapidly. At the last minute, no one knows the end result.
