Niantic reveals cellular partners for 5G consumer AR platform

Building on the success of its augmented reality apps for smartphones, Niantic surprised attendees at Qualcomm’s December 2019 Snapdragon Tech Summit by announcing plans to offer its own consumer AR platform — hardware, software, and support for a third-party developer community. Today, the company is announcing the Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance, a collection of cellular partners that will help distribute “exclusive 5G-ready AR content” and demonstrate 5G consumer AR experiences to the public.

Niantic’s initial partners are Deutsche Telekom, EE, Globe, Orange, SK Telecom, SoftBank, Telus, and Verizon, representing countries ranging from the United States and United Kingdom to South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and parts of Europe. Collectively, the group’s marketing efforts and large number of retail locations could play a critical role in popularizing consumer AR across the world.