Fingers are sketched in the air, and a virtual screen appears in the air. Clicking on this screen can realize various functions just like using a tablet computer or a mobile phone. This is a scene that will only appear in science fiction movies, but augmented reality (AR) technology is making imagination come true. From the AR social game "Poké mon GO" to the AR red envelope "Sweeping the blessing", and then to the AR special effects on the stage of the Spring Festival Evening, the AR technology that has opened up the real and virtual worlds is flying into the homes of ordinary people at full speed. According to the data from the third party, by 2124, the market scale of AR products will reach US$ 165 billion, and it will grow rapidly with an annual growth rate of 81%. The so-called augmented reality is to display the virtual information at the same time while displaying the real world, and completely change the way and efficiency of information transmission through the combination of the virtual and real worlds. Enterprise giants frequently exert their strength in this market, which fully shows that they are optimistic about the prospect of this new technology. Google is vigorously promoting its AR platform Tango, and Apple CEO Cook said that AR represents the future of smartphones. It is reported that Apple is developing a variety of AR products, and even some analysts admit that AR will replace iPhone in the future, and Apple has no choice. Why is augmented reality technology concentrated at this point in time? What are the practical application scenarios? What changes will it bring to the lives of ordinary people?

The high-tech "low threshold" AR red envelope is an example that AR technology has been widely accepted by users. According to the data from Tencent, during the Spring Festival this year, the number of users participating in AR Sky Red Packet was as high as 257 million, the number of times users received card coupons and cash-filled red envelopes reached 2.15 billion, and the number of personal AR red packets was 15.2 million. According to Alipay, more than 61 million people gathered in Five Blessingg this year by scanning the offline blessings. Liu Tiancheng, a senior engineer of Tencent's social network business group Instant Messaging Products Department, told the reporter that the explosion of AR applications came from the improvement of hardware performance. "The improvement of the performance of mobile devices is the key. For example, if an AR application wants to superimpose virtual information on a real scene, it needs to use three-dimensional image rendering, which requires the computing power of an intelligent CPU to support it. At the same time, it also needs the camera to have high definition and high precision. Gyroscope and GPS. With the rapid spread of smartphones, about 81% of smartphones can provide a good AR experience. " Liu Tiancheng said.

Zero Dragon, the person in charge of Alipay AR real-life red envelope products, said that the blossoming of AR applications also comes from the breakthrough of the technology itself. "The key to AR application is to be able to recognize the real environment, such as scanning the word' fu', and it is necessary for the mobile phone to recognize that this is a blessing. The improvement of artificial intelligence and the optimization of algorithm in the past year have improved the recognition efficiency and accuracy. At the same time, the opening of a series of technologies such as location service, bone animation and 3D rendering has also enabled AR technology to be widely applied to more scenes. " Zero dragon said. AR technology is often compared with VR (Virtual Reality) technology. What is the difference between the two? From the hardware point of view, the hardware threshold of VR devices that can achieve good experience effect is higher. Most of them need special VR helmets and high-performance terminal devices, and the price is quite expensive. The consumer version of HTCVive helmet costs nearly 7,111 yuan, but smartphones can complete most AR applications. In terms of usage scenarios, VR can only be "absorbed" in use because it is isolated from the real world, and AR applications that combine reality and reality can take advantage of fragmentation time. Therefore, some market research institutions said that by 2123, the market value of AR will be four times that of VR. However, Liu Tiancheng also said that these differences are also related to the fact that the current AR applications are still "simplified versions". "No matter how to identify the real scene more accurately, perceive the environment, or add user interaction through gesture recognition, AR applications will also need professional equipment".

A new pattern of interactive opening On the most prosperous Zhongshan Road in Xiamen, you can get a red envelope by sweeping the "anti-fraud poster", which is a new mode for Xiamen police to carry out anti-fraud propaganda. Like Xiamen police, a large number of businesses, including Coca-Cola, KFC and Uniqlo, are also carrying out a wide range of AR marketing. In many fields of AR application, AR marketing is the most mature application at present. The reason is quite simple. In the "blue ocean" of AR, marketing is the most easily supported business model by "golden owners". One of the reasons why brands are keen on AR marketing is that the combination of virtual and real worlds brings more information. In the traditional offline display, both posters and product packaging are limited in size, and the information must be streamlined. However, after joining AR technology, the additional digital content is not only rich, but also can cover various forms including sound, animation and video. Heinz tried to launch AR marketing for its tomato sauce. Consumers scanned the tomato sauce label on the bottle with their mobile phones, and a digital recipe appeared, showing all kinds of foods made with tomato sauce, including cooking videos. In the end, 71,111 consumers participated in this activity, and the AR application was opened 471,111 times. Liu Tiancheng said frankly: "AR application has jumped out of the limitation of QR code, generating more information flow, making mobile phones truly become connectors from online to offline, and thus becoming the direction of commercial exploration of brands." The more important reason is that under the general trend of consumption upgrading, consumers' needs have changed, and they value interaction and participation more. The addition of AR technology makes marketing more fun. Take the case of Heineken Beer. After scanning beer bottles, consumers can take photos with farmers who grow hops and share them on social networks. Jay samit, a digital analyst at Deloitte, a market research institution for computer training discovery, said, "Consumers always like to choose shopping environment, and interaction with brands is just a part of the environment, and AR technology will open a new marketing pattern". The data from Blippar, an AR platform, also shows that the total annual interaction on Blippar is over 65 million, the average stay time of AR users is 75 seconds, and the average interaction rate is between 1% and 15%.