SAN FRANCISCO: Google on Wednesday unveiled tools to make augmented reality apps for mobile devices using the Android operating system, setting up its latest showdown with Apple’s iPhone over next-generation smartphone features.
Phone-based augmented reality (AR), in which digital objects are superimposed onto the real world on screen, got a huge boost from the popularity of the Pokémon Go game. The game, launched in the US in July last year, sent players into city streets, offices, parks and restaurants to search for colorful animated characters.
Analysts expected the game to make $3 billion for Apple over two years as gamers buy “PokéCoins” from its app store.
Google’s take on the technology will first be available on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google’s own Pixel phone. The company said in a blog post that it hoped to make the system, called ARCore, available to at least 100 million users, but did not set a date for a broad release.
Apple in June announced a similar system called ARKit that it plans to release this fall on “hundreds of millions” of devices.
Google and Apple will jockey for the attention of customers and software developers who will build the games, walking guides and other applications that would make AR a compelling feature.
Many tech industry leaders envision a future in which eyeglasses, car windshields and other surfaces can overlay digital information on the real world. Google and Microsoft have already experimented with AR glasses.
“AR is big and profound,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook told investors earlier in August. “And this is one of those huge things that we’ll look back at and marvel on the start of it.”
Apple and Google have had to make compromises to bring the technology to market.
In Apple’s case, the Cupertino, California-based company decided to make its AR system work with devices capable of running iOS 11, its next-generation operating system due out this fall.
This means it will work on phones going back to the iPhone 6s, which have a single camera at the back and standard motion sensors, rather than a dual camera system found on newer models such as the iPhone 7 Plus or special depth-sensing chips in competing phones. That limits the range of images that can be displayed.
Google initially aimed to solve this problem with an AR system called Tango that uses a special depth-sensor, but only two phone makers so far support it. With ARCore, Google changed course to work on phones without depth sensors.
But the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem presents challenges. To spread its AR system beyond the Galaxy S8 and Pixel phone, Google will have to figure out how account for the wide variety of Android phone cameras or require phone makers to use specific parts.
Google, Apple brace for showdown over smartphone augmented reality technology
Google, Apple brace for showdown over smartphone augmented reality technology
Oman property price index jumps 17.3% in Q3
JEDDAH: Oman’s real estate price index recorded a 17.3 percent increase in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, according to official data.
The commercial property price index rose 14.6 percent, driven by a 19 percent increase in commercial land prices, while the cost of commercial shops fell by 8.5 percent, as per the country’s National Centre for Statistics and Information, or NCSI, based on figures from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.
Industrial land prices posted a moderate increase of 5.5 percent, while residential property prices recorded stronger growth of 18.7 percent year on year, the Oman News Agency reported.
The rise in Oman’s real estate price index comes amid broader momentum across Gulf property markets, where residential activity remained resilient in the third quarter of 2025. Higher demand in major cities across the region, supported by population growth and ongoing infrastructure investment, helped underpin price gains, even as some markets faced tighter financing conditions.
“As for the residential property price index, it achieved clear growth in the third quarter of 2025, with a rate of 18.7 percent compared to the third quarter of 2024, as residential land prices increased by 19.6 percent, residential apartments by 22.4 percent, in addition to the growth of villa prices by 16.5 percent, while the prices of other houses decreased by 0.5 percent,” the ONA report stated.
Oman’s residential land prices climbed 19.6 percent, with apartments rising by 22.4 percent, while villas increased by 16.5 percent. Prices of other types of houses saw a slight decline of 0.5 percent.
At the governorate level, Muscat recorded the highest increase in residential land prices at 48.3 percent, followed by Musandam at 29.7 percent, Al-Dakhiliyah at 12.3 percent, Al-Batinah South at 8.7 percent, North Al Batinah at 8.1 percent, and Dhofar at 4 percent.
On the other hand, some governorates saw declines in residential land prices, with Al-Dhahirah down 25.8 percent, Al-Buraimi down 24.6 percent, Al-Wusta down 13.3 percent, Al-Sharqiyah North down 4 percent, and Al-Sharqiyah South down 2.2 percent.
“This increase reflects continued demand in Oman’s real estate market, with residential properties in Muscat and Musandam driving much of the growth,” the ONA report added.
The data also show clear differences across regions, with price gains concentrated in major urban areas. Strong demand in Muscat and coastal governorates was supported by population growth, investment, and infrastructure spending, while some interior regions recorded declines as market activity softened.
