Summary
Snapchat has quickly become one of the leaders in the social media market. But the company does not intend to stop there. It now aims to tackle the market for this emerging technology that is augmented reality, which could one day replace our smartphone screens. For a while now, Snapchat has offered filters, regularly updated, that allow its users to implement 3D elements in their selfies.. This feature was already a compelling sketch of augmented reality. But last Tuesday, Snapchat launched an update by the name of "World Lenses", entering even more into the AR. Elements of augmented reality are now based on the rear camera of the device.
Augmented reality filters on Snapchat
It is now possible for Snapchat users to make virtual elements appear, for example snowflakes or clouds spewing rainbows, for the more eccentric, in their environment and no longer just on their selfies. Worl Lenses differs from the initial functionality in that it no longer works by the facial recognition of the user, but by the recognition of the environment, a bit like the Microsoft HoloLens.
Even though this new Snapchat feature is meant to be used for fun, augmented reality is taken very seriously by large companies. Microsoft has already embarked on the adventure and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has not been stingy in compliments about this technology, considering it to be even more interesting than virtual reality. Startup Magic Leap raised astronomical sum of $ 1,4 billion, which leaves no doubt as to the interest aroused by this technology.
The continuation of the AR adventure for Snapchat
Snapchat with this new filter has no doubts about the future of augmented reality. She plans to launch soon a pair of sunglasses equipped with cameras: Spectacles glasses. She recently filed a patent that gives a good overview of her augmented reality projects: she plans to use object recognition in a promotional manner. The Spectacles, which got Bluetooth functionality since the last update, simply record videos to share on Snapchat. But we can imagine, in the near future, that a myriad of uses related to augmented reality will emerge.
