INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
are likely to come with a LiDAR scanner
That's right, the same mysterious dot that first appeared on the iPad Pro 2020.But what is a LiDAR scanner? A built-in lie detector? A more
relaxed version of radar perhaps? As we'll discover, LiDAR (or 'Light Detection and Ranging') does work in a similar way to radar, only it
uses lasers to judge distances and depth
will let us do on the iPhone 12
Using our experience of seeing the tech on the iPad Pro 2020, we'll be exploring the kind of experiences LiDAR could open up on the new
Zoom meeting(Image credit: Apple)What is LiDAR?The concept behind LiDAR has been around since the 1960s
In short, the tech lets you scan and map your environment by firing out laser beams, then timing how quickly they return
it started life as a military tool on planes, before becoming better known as the system that allowed the Apollo 15 mission to map the
surface of the moon.More recently, LiDAR (also known as lidar) has been seen on self-driving cars, where it helps detect objects like
You might have also unwittingly come across the tech in your robot vacuum.But it's in the past couple of years that LiDAR's possibilities
With the systems getting smaller, cheaper and more accurate, they've started become viable additions to mobile devices that already have
Until fairly recently, the most common types built 3D maps of their environments by physically sweeping around in a similar way to a radar
But what's the difference between a time-of-flight sensor and the LiDAR 'scanner' that we'll mostly likely see on the iPhone 12?(Image
credit: Apple)What's different about Apple's LiDAR scanner?You might already be familiar with the time-of-flight (ToF) sensors seen on many
That's because it's a LiDAR scanner, rather than the 'scannerless' systems seen on smartphones so far.The latter use a single pulse of
infra-red light to create their 3D maps, but a scanning LiDAR system fires a train of laser pulses at different parts of a scene over a
objects disappearing behind real ones like trees.Impressively, it's a speedy process too, but that speed is only really possible with the
As Apple stated at the iPad Pro 2020 launch, the LiDAR scanner's data is crunched together with data from cameras and a motion sensor, then
"enhanced by computer vision algorithms on the A12Z Bionic for a more detailed understanding of the scene"
In other words, there's a lot going on to make it appear seamless.(Image credit: Apple)But while the iPhone 12's rumored A14 Bionic
post from the developer of Halide camera app points out, right now the iPad Pro's depth data just doesn't offer the resolution needed for
some applications, like detailed 3D scanning or even Portrait mode.This means the iPad Pro's LiDAR scanner is designed more for room-scale
applications like games or shifting around AR furniture in IKEA's Place app
It doesn't currently let you 3D scan objects with greater accuracy than other techniques like photogrammetry, which instead combines
high-resolution RGB photos taken from different vantage points.Wouldn't it be great if these LiDAR scanner meshes could be combined with the
credit: Apple)What might a LiDAR scanner let you do on the iPhone 12?So now we know the iPad Pro's LiDAR scanner works best at room-sized
scales, what kind of things could it do on the iPhone 12? For the average person, the main two are AR gaming and AR shopping.Apple has
previewed a few LiDAR-specific applications that are conveniently coming "later this year" (most likely to tie in with the iPhone 12's
announcement) and one of the more interesting is the game Hot Lava.A first-person adventure game for iOS and PC, Hot Lava will have a new
there's still time for it to develop.Naturally, any mention of AR gaming brings to mind Pokemon Go, the only real smash hit for augmented
Interestingly, the game's maker Niantic seems to be forging its own AR path, rather than relying on Apple's tech
be tied to Apple's LiDAR-based tech or ARKit platform, but the iPhone 12 should at least give you a ringside seat for watching the AR battle
play out.(Image credit: Apple)But what about non-gaming experiences for the LiDAR sensor? So far, the most polished seem to be based around
For example, the IKEA Place app lets you move around virtual furniture in your living room, like you're in a real-life version of The
Sims.But while the iPad Pro 2020's improved AR placement and occlusion (or ability to hide virtual objects behind real ones) are helpful,
it's still not a scintillating new use for the LiDAR scanner.Still, while the tech is currently more useful for CAD designers and healthcare
professionals (if you have an iPad Pro, check out the impressive Complete Anatomy app), there is still plenty of room for creativity and
surprises to appear in the next year.As Halide's proof-of-concept app Esper shows, the LiDAR sensor could help app developers invent new
creative forms that go way beyond traditional photography and video.In the meantime, it's fair to say that the LiDAR scanner on the iPad Pro
and possibly iPhone 12 will initially be there to wow developers rather than tech fans.You'll get the chance to test-drive the future on
