Every (Major) AR Development Platform and Why It’s Important

Click here to see the original post by ISL’s marketing lead Josh Strupp.

Note: If you have little to no knowledge of AR, read this first: Augmented Reality: Everything You Need to Know for 2018

Introduction

Over a billion people (between Android, iOS11, Facebook mobile app, and now Snapchat users) have access to rich AR experiences on their mobile devices. Add Amazon AWS’ product to the picture and suddenly it’s anyone with access to a modern web browser can get their hands on AR.

There are 5 major tech companies that, in one year, released 5 powerful platforms designed to create AR experiences. How are they different? What’s the advantage of using one over another? Which is best for agencies? Brands? Hobbyists? Developers?

In this post we go under the hood. As it goes with most modern consumer technology, new, competing platforms with nuanced differences influence the future of the product. Now, let’s get nuanced.

Before We Begin

It should (must) be noted that gaming engines Unity and Unreal Engine have led the pack in AR (and VR) development for years.

Additionally, frameworks for building AR experiences on the web (AR.js, WebAR), mobile…