The world of smartphones tends to be a battle between two conflicting universes created by Apple and Google (with star player Samsung competing on Google’s side of the field), but in at least one ambitious new Google device, components from both universes can be found working together for the greater good, or at least to create some unprecedented 3D-mapping capabilities.
Online repair guide iFixit tore down one of Google’s Project Tango phones — Project Tango is an experimental smartphone armed with multiple high-quality cameras that allows it to easily create a 3D map of its immediate environment — and found a surprising component included in the package. At the heart of Project Tango is a 3D sensor made by PrimeSense, a company acquired by Apple late last year.
There’s likely no deeper meaning or conspiracy afoot with a newly acquired company in Apple’s portfolio making components that fuel a cutting-edge project at a chief competitor. It more speaks to the hidden corporate incestuousness that’s often behind many products — PrimeSense also makes components for Microsoft's Kinect and Apple used parts from Samsung going way back. What’s more, Project Tango is one of the few teams that Google is holding on to from its purchase of Motorola. It’s likely that the Tango team was working with PrimeSense even before the Apple acquisition
Google’s Project Tango prototype (Credit: Google)
What’s really interesting here, as iFixit points out, it that Google seems to have managed to put PrimeSense’s Capri 3D chip to use in a phone before Apple, even after the latter purchased the company.
Then again, Apple likes to let others be the first movers in a market and make mistakes that Apple can then swoop in to correct and capitalize upon.
To be certain, some folks in Cupertino are keeping on eye on what developers and users do with Project Tango and its 3D sensors. Don’t be surprised if even better 3D capability, tweaked for Apple’s ecosystem perhaps, shows up in new products later this year.
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