Apple Inc. reportedly acquired an Israeli startup called Camerai around 18 months ago for “several tens of millions of dollars” and quickly folded it into its computer vision team, according to a report in Calcalist.

Camerai’s technology has since become “a significant part of every Apple camera” and added some “useful augmented reality and video technology capabilities” to the company’s devices, the report added.

Camerai was reportedly founded in 2014 and operated in stealth throughout its years of existence. It’s said to have employed 13 people at its headquarters in Tel Aviv at the time of the acquisition and a majority of those people joined Apple’s team in Herzliya.

Reportedly, there were several other suitors interested in buying the company when Apple made its move, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Alibaba Group Ltd.

Calcalist said Camerai’s technology enabled applications to easily create augmented reality and image processing graphics with limited technical knowledge. For example, it allowed applications to detect an object within a picture and outline it so it can then be adjusted cosmetically. Camerai had also created a software development kit that enabled developers to use AR tools to edit images in more sophisticated ways.

Although it’s not clear which specific features the startup’s technology has enabled, Apple has made numerous AR and camera-related improvements to its devices since 2018. Apple is also believed to be working on new wearable devices that can integrate virtual and mixed reality environments, including a possible headset that might be called Apple Glass.

Photo: Niels Epting/Flickr