Why Apple boss Tim Cook thinks AR will be bigger than VR and is the most profound technology for humanity

Apple boss Tim Cook has heralded augmented reality as the most transformative technology of the future, predicting its “profound” impact on humanity.

“I’m incredibly excited about AR…. because I can see uses for it everywhere,” he said, reeling of a list of applications that included education, sports and entertainment.

“I can see it in every business that I know anything about,” he added, speaking to students at Oxford University where he launched new startup hub The Foundry on Wednesday evening.

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“I don’t like our products being used a lot. I like our products amplifying us. And I think AR can amplify human connection,” he said during a question and answer session.

Despite some “nifty” things for VR, he said he’d never been a fan of it because it has the opposite effect.

“It’s not profound in my view. AR is profound. We will look back on this moment, or the moment we announced ARkit earlier this year, and this will be one of those things in history, I think. It’ll take some time, it doesn’t happen overnight, but this is big. And good for humanity.”

ARkit is Apple’s platform for developing apps which use AR.

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Cook also touched on regulation, something that he said was on his mind at the moment, noting that authorities should not look at companies collectively.

“Each company is in a different position and so each one has to be looked at individually instead of as a group,” he said.

Apple is embroiled in a row with Brussels over a €13bn tax bill. Europe’s competition authority last week sent the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to force Ireland to collect the cash.