A look at Apple’s acquisition timeline shows how several M&A targets helped set up the company to be a player in AR. There is also a distinct uptick in the number of acquisitions that have happened in the last few years, compared to pre-2014. Most recently, Apple has been particularly active in making AI acquisitions, spanning speech recognition, computer vision, and facial recognition.

Computer vision capacity is also key to building AR apps. In addition, the company has also made acquisitions in the dedicated AR/VR space, including the purchases of FlyBy Media and metaio.

Origen: Apple M&A: Acquisitions in AR/VR, AI, & Computer Vision Stand Out