The hardware that makes mobile AR works

 

Enables: motion tracking for AR

Accelerometer:

Measures acceleration, which is a change in speed divided by time. Simply put, it’s the measure of change in velocity. Acceleration forces can be static/continuous like gravity or dynamic, such as movement or vibrations.

Gyroscope:

Measures and/or maintains orientation and angular velocity. When you change the rotation of your phone while using an AR experience, the gyroscope measures that rotation, and ARCore ensures that the digital assets respond correctly.

Phone Camera:

With mobile AR, your phone camera supplies a live feed of the surrounding real world upon which AR content is overlaid. In addition to the camera itself, ARCore-capable phones like the Google Pixel rely on complementary technologies like machine learning, complex image processing, and computer vision to produce high-quality images and spatial maps for mobile AR.

Enables: location-based AR

Magnetometer:

Gives smartphones a simple orientation related to the Earth's magnetic field. Because of the magnetometer, your phone always knows which direction is North, allowing it to auto-rotate digital maps depending on your physical orientation. This device is key to location-based AR apps.

GPS:

A global navigation satellite system that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver, like in your smartphone. For ARCore-capable smartphones, this device helps enable location-based AR apps.