The latest iPhone operating system, iOS 26could be the biggest update to date in several ways, including a complete design and a visual overhaul to give the whole interface the impression of touching what Apple calls “Liquid glass. “But among the many clever features you will discover is a catchy feature that almost looks like a living room tip: the possibility of giving any photo a 3D effect. and give it a 3D parallax effectwhere it seems that you can take a look around The first plan of your image when you move your phone. Apple calls it “space scenes”. It looks like a hologram, and it’s pretty cool.
This fall, you will probably find a lot of family and friends experimenting with space scenes, especially since you can do it with almost any photo, on any recent iPhone (12 or later), and apply these 3D effects to your locking screen. But if you dig a little below the surface of this update, you will see how it is a perfect example of how Apple envisages the iPhone as the gateway to a future where almost all digital interactions are spatial and user -friendly. AR, or augmented reality, is the underlying magic behind the company Equally impressive and costly pro vision Case head, which allows you to see and interact with digital elements in the real world.
The basics of augmented reality, including this new feature in iOS 26, were laid years ago when Apple Portrait mode introduced In the iPhone 7 Plus. By mixing information from two lenses, the camera system has started to capture rudimentary depth cards, blurred backgrounds to imitate the appearance of a professional DSLR camera. Since then, iPhone cameras have greatly advanced: addition Lidar sensors in pro modelsRefine the neural engine which treats the images you capture and quietly collect the data necessary to make the 3D reconstructions possible on a large scale.
Now, with Vision Pro on Shelves and Ar has an official orientation for the future Apple pipeline, thanks to years of CEO Tim Cook, evangelizing bleeding technology, Apple puts these space capacities at the front and center of the iPhone. Rather than limiting the depth effects to the photos taken in portrait mode, the new iOS 26 update can apply them retroactively to almost any image of your library, as long as there is a background and a clear first plan with which to work. Apple tells Fortune All you have to do is find an image in your library, click on a new space icon in the upper right corner and your photo will come to life.
Here’s what it looks like in action:
AR every day, not just for helmets
Apple’s Pro Vision Helmet, published in February 2024, was Apple’s attempt to finally make “space computer science”, but it clearly has a long way to go in terms of adoption. At an enticing starting price of $ 3,499, Vision Pro remains a niche device targeting the first adopters, although Apple clarified its ambitions to make general technology. The omnipresent iPhone is a key springboard to get there: by infusing daily features such as wallpapers with AR, Apple attracts users to a world where the spatial content is normal, even expected.
By incorporating space computer science into users’ photos, undoubtedly the most personal digital real estate of a person, Apple leads people to expect depth and dimension everywhere. And by making it available as locking screen feature, it is even clearer than it is Apple’s attempt to gently present people in the direction in which he heads as a business.
To be clear, 3D photos may seem new, but it also has real utility. By exciting people by 3D effects on their multimedia, it is also the way Apple subtly encourages developers to create applications adapted to an AR, from game to social media, including shopping. Hundreds of these applications exist on the vision pro helmet, but the real opportunity lies in the iPhone, of which there is north of 1.3 billion owners. And, as this feature will synchronize on devices, you can expect space functionality such as 3D-Photo functionality in iOS 26 which makes its way through the whole Apple ecosystem.
While Apple fans and consumers are very likely to focus on other iOS 26 bells and whistles – new application icons, telephone features such as calls for calls and other personalization options for messages – we can return to this update because the first time that Apple has really started to look into its AR future.
