Augmented reality: Apple and Google's next battleground

The two biggest players in smartphone software are pitching to win the war for AR. But will Ikea and Poki(C)mon Go be enough to get consumers on board?

This year the next big battleground between the titans of the smartphone industry will be augmented reality, as both Apple and Google duke it out with new phones, cameras and systems designed to provide Terminator vision - or Poki(C)mon Go on steroids - to the masses.

Augmented reality (AR) is nothing new. Many people's first experience of the concept was seeing through the eyes of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 Terminator in James Cameron's 1984 blockbuster. The movie showed the Terminator's vision overlaid with information about subjects, objects and objectives.