The Race to Patent Augmented Reality

If patent applications are any guide, Microsoft is investing the most in developing its own augmented reality technology. It has applied for far more AR patents in the past six years than other tech companies known to be working on AR products, such as Samsung, Sony, Google and Magic Leap.

The tech industry is seeing a huge uptick in AR patent filings overall. That suggests we could see several generations of augmented reality products hitting the market in coming years. That’s most obviously true of Microsoft, which began selling the $3,000 HoloLens augmented reality headset this year.