Google adds two new APIs to ARCore, providing more detailed raw depth maps, as well as new recording and playback features for developers
Context & Ripple Effects
The new raw depth API is a deepening of a line Google started in late 2019 when it unveiled the ARCore Depth API for depth maps and occlusion, then moved it to general availability for Android and Unity developers in June 2020. The difference now: instead of only processed occlusion output, developers get the underlying depth data itself, which they can feed into their own effects.
The recording-and-playback addition extends ARCore beyond live sessions — an evolution of the multi-device direction Google set with Cloud Anchors in ARCore 1.2 — while the whole stack continues Google's strategy of making capable AR run on ordinary phones, as it did when it ported its Measure app from Project Tango exclusivity to any ARCore handset.
First-order effects
- Android and Unity developers building ARCore experiences gain access to more granular raw depth maps, letting them implement custom occlusion, placement, and visual effects rather than relying solely on Google's processed depth output.
Second-order effects
- Apps that already depend on ARCore's software-only depth — such as Houzz and Google's own AR in Search, both cited at the Depth API's launch — can upgrade their AR quality without any change in users' hardware, keeping the cost of improvement on Google's side.
Third-order effects
- If raw-depth-plus-session-tooling becomes the standard developer surface, smartphone AR consolidates around platforms whose software perception replaces dedicated depth sensors, shifting competitive pressure onto whoever ships the richest cross-device toolkit — a contest Google runs against rival mobile AR frameworks.
The trend: Mobile AR capability is migrating from specialized hardware toward software-computed depth and reusable session tooling that works across the existing Android device base.