Apple continues hiring augmented and virtual reality experts

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been hinting at Apple’s interest in augmented and virtual reality all year, and it seems that interest continues to grow. Business Insider spotted two people who were hired by Apple over the summer after working at a pair of the biggest names in field: one at Oculus VR, the other at Magic Leap.

The two hires don’t mean much on their own, but they suggest that Apple is continuing to invest in AR and VR research with the goal of eventually putting out a product. In January, theFinancial Times reported that Apple already had “hundreds” of people working on AR and VR, though those employees were said to have come from acquisitions of smaller companies. Their goal, according to the report, was to eventually build some kind of headset.

APPLE SEEMS TO BE MORE INTERESTED IN AR THAN VR

Cook’s comments make it sound like Apple’s eventual headset — or whatever form the product takes — will be focused on augmented, not virtual, reality.

On Wednesday, Cook took a minute to discuss the two categories with Good Morning America, saying that he suspects virtual reality “probably has a lower commercial interest over time” and that he believes “augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far.” In particular, Cook pointed to the fact that augmented reality lets you interact with the world around you while you’re using it.