The iPhone 8 will reportedly offer advanced augmented reality (AR) capabilities. AR is a futuristic technology that enhances one’s perception of reality by supplementing computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data to live feeds. This is the technology used on live sporting broadcasts to draw lines on the field showing strategy in a football match, or follow the trajectory of a golf ball in flight.

By contrast, virtual reality (VR) merely replaces the real world with a simulated one. Apple has an army of more than 1,000 engineers working on the highly secretive project at the company’s offices in Israel.

AR adds virtual elements into the real world, and Apple CEO Tim Cook considers it to be better than VR, which puts the user in a virtual environment. The fact that this groundbreaking technology is being researched solely in Israel is yet another indication of how the country has become one of the main research and development centers for leading hi-tech companies around the world.