It could be the surprises of the next presentation on September 10. We take it for granted that we will see the new iPhone and a new generation of Apple Watch without great news except for new materials such as Titanium and Ceramics. But the last few days new rumors have been added about two new products: a locator and Apple's Augmented Reality glasses.
The locator (Apple Tag?) Will be used to place it on any item likely to be lost (a backpack, keys, wallet, a child?) And be able to locate it at any time. Augmented Reality glasses could be the big hit of the year. How would these products work? We see it below.
A perfect offline locator
The locator would be a very similar product to those that Tile already offers. A small circular device, white, with the Apple logo in the center, that would have NFC and Bluetooth LE connectivity, some type of battery or battery, a speaker to be able to emit sound and thus find it when we are close, and a reduced version of iOS inside to work.
But the most surprising thing will be how it works. This tiny device can be placed on any element and it can be located from anywhere, without having internet connectivity itself. How will do? As we explained the other day that the location of the iPhone works when it does not have coverage in iOS 13.
It will connect via Bluetooth to any Apple device that is nearby, to anyone who passes by, and that device will be the one that offers its internet connection so that you can locate it from anywhere in the world, no matter how far away you are. . You can do all this from the "Search" application that will come with iOS 13. There will be a new tab, "Items" (articles) where you can see all the belongings you have marked with this locator.
Associating these locators to your iCloud account will be as simple as pairing your AirPods or HomePod, bringing your mobile closer. With this gesture, anyone who finds it will see a message on their screen with the owner's name and contact information. If the locator is in lost mode, this gesture will not be necessary, since when someone with an Apple product is nearby they will receive a message alerting the lost product and showing the contact details.
Not only this, We can also see our locators using Augmented Reality, with the camera of our iPhone, something that of course will also be available with Apple glasses, which we could also see in this presentation and which we will now detail.
Augmented Reality Glasses
Apple could also present its AR glasses, although it is something that is still questioned by most people with close contacts to the company. There has even been talk of a device similar to the classic Virtual Reality glasses that we already know. Perhaps Apple's first approach to Augmented Reality is with an accessory that makes use of a device like the iPhone and its new triple camera. There is nothing clear about it.
What is known from the internal tests that Apple has been conducting, is that there will be applications that are prepared for "Stereo AR" (Stereo Augmented Reality) and that can work in two different modes: When we have the device in our hand (iPhone) and when we have it placed on our face with the help of another accessory. Some applications already prepared for Stereo AR are Maps, Search and a new one called Quicklook AR that will work with web content.