Apple notoriously hinders it's own potential so it doesn't cannibalize it's own market share. They have no incentive to turn off the iPhone faucet, so why would they make a product that devours smartphones?
> why would they make a product that devours smartphones?
Likely because they expect AR to eventually devour smartphones, and they would rather devour it themselves than let others do so.
Plus, it will be a painful growth with rough edges anyway, so the iPhone faucet isn't turning off anytime soon. In fact, it would be quite a helpful source of revenue, until AR adoption reaches the masses and gets to the stage of actually being polished and commonplace enough to devour smartphones.
See: Apple slowly winding down iPod over the course of many years, as iPhone cannibalized it almost entirely.
"If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will," Jobs famously said. It's not just a good quote--it might be the smartest realization he ever had, and the reason the company he founded is now more valuable than any other. It's not often that a company is willing to cannibalize its own product to make a new one.
Likely because they expect AR to eventually devour smartphones, and they would rather devour it themselves than let others do so.
Plus, it will be a painful growth with rough edges anyway, so the iPhone faucet isn't turning off anytime soon. In fact, it would be quite a helpful source of revenue, until AR adoption reaches the masses and gets to the stage of actually being polished and commonplace enough to devour smartphones.
See: Apple slowly winding down iPod over the course of many years, as iPhone cannibalized it almost entirely.