A new Barron's report looks at the findings of a boutique research firm who has been looking into new suppliers they believe will have their technology built into the forthcoming 'iPhone X', Apple's tenth-anniversary version of the iconic smartphone that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced back in 2007. Two of the interesting new suppliers are reportedly 'Lumentum' and 'Finisar' that will supply Apple with their next-gen 3D sensing that could be used with Apple's upcoming Augmented Reality capabilities and more.

Along with Augmented Reality, 3D sensing opens the door wide open to next-gen features for iOS and macOS related to 'Gesture recognition' as discussed in Lumentum's video below.

This is something that Apple has been working on for years through their Israeli team from PrimeSense (patent examples: one, two, three and four).

More recently there have been back to back patent reports covering this subject matter. Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Invents a 3D Depth Mapping Camera for Hand Gesturing Interfaces for Future Macs & Smartglasses." Last week we posted another report titled "A new 3D Mapping Invention from Apple could be used in connection to a Future UI that Recognizes Gestures." This is what 3D sensing technology could eventually bring to iOS and macOS devices with a 3D camera.

Lumentum notes that their technology can also be used for 3D-sensing gaming applications while Finistar notes that 3D Sensing will be the next disruptive technology. It could work with Kinect-like devices that could bring in-air gesture controls for Apple TV.

Finisar further notes that "By adding the third dimension to systems, 3D sensing provides a foundation of supplemental technology that will extend the capabilities of mobile devices well past their current limitations. The ability to sense where the user or an object is in relation to the mobile device, to capture depth, dimension, and space, enables a whole new range of applications and ways to interact with one's phone or tablet, just the way the digital camera has revolutionized the way we communicate, share information and navigate our world.

By passing unseen, infrared light through an optical element (which spreads the light into a structured pattern or a sheet of light), systems are able to capture depth information across an entire room. This enables a person to control games or their entire entertainment center with physical gestures. In future mobile devices, 3D sensing will augment camera capabilities to enable object recognition, capture depth data in an image or augment reality as seen through the device's camera."

The Barron's report notes that boutique research firm BlueFin also listed two other suppliers; one being Broadcom for wireless charging technology that's been known for some time and a new supplier for Apple called Viavi Solutions that covers optical technology like 3D motion sensing that's used Microsoft's Kinect video game controller, healthcare industry applications and more.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.