iPhone maker Apple is reportedly planning to acquire virtual reality company NextVR for $100 million. NextVR is a California-based company, which provides VR experiences for viewing live events related to sports, music, and entertainment via VR headsets from PlayStation, Oculus, HTC, Microsoft, and Lenovo.
NextVR uses a patented technology that upscales video streams, which is then used to provide high-quality video streams of music and sporting events to VR headsets. Overall, the company is said to hold over 40 technology patents in total. NextVR has also forged partnerships with Wimbledon, Fox Sports, WWE, NBA, etc.
While the acquisition isn’t closed yet, a report on 9to5Mac claimed that two companies have started notifying employees who are currently working from San Diego that they will be required to relocate to the Cupertino area.
The report also stated that NextVR reduced its workforce by 40 per cent, as the company failed to secure a Series C round of funding in early 2019.
Apple is also planning to push augmented reality via iPhone 12, which is said to come with LiDAR scanning technology. The LiDAR technology would make iPhones better understand your surroundings, which would make augmented reality apps much more realistic. The technology can measure the distance to objects that are up to 5 meters away and works both indoors and outdoors.
According to Bloomberg, the iPhone 12 will be launched as per its schedule in September. The company could launch two iPhones – the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max and the 5.45-inch iPhone 12 Pro. The 6.7-inch iPhone is also expected to come with sensor-shift image stabilisation and a gimbal-like feature in a camera hardware.
