5 reasons why 2016 was the year of augmented reality

With more than 500 million downloads, Pokemon Go is now arguably the most popular augmented reality app in history, and has made the technology mainstream. With Snapchat, millions of consumers are engaging with AR on a daily basis. Users can overlay branded (and non-branded) filters on their snaps before publishing to their friends and story. The Microsoft Hololens headset launched for developers and early adopters this year, as the first AR head mounted display to hit the market in 2016. The iPhone 7 Plus features a second rear camera allows for two slightly different viewpoints meaning live images can now have depth information associated with them. This could be Apple's first step into Augmented Reality. IKEA has incorporated AR into their marketing efforts by creating an app that gives users a virtual preview of furniture in each user’s home in order to decrease furniture “misfits".