AR veteran leaves Vision Pro to return to smartphone development

When Mark Drummond was leading the Character Intelligence Team at Apple, working on the Vision Pro, he had a revelation that ran counter to the company’s official vision. His team was responsible for creating the Encounter Dinosaurs demo, a preinstalled experience that brings interactive prehistoric creatures face to face with users. “We built that with Jon Favreau,” Drummond explains, referencing Apple’s ongoing collaboration with the Mandalorian director.

Yet, for someone with deep roots in augmented reality, Drummond’s career path has taken an unexpected turn. He recently left Apple to return to smartphone development, a move that signals a broader shift in his thinking about where the future of immersive technology truly lies. Rather than betting entirely on head-worn displays, Drummond now believes that the mobile phone remains the most practical and accessible platform for delivering AR experiences to everyday consumers.

This departure from the Vision Pro team underscores a growing tension in the tech world: while companies like Apple invest heavily in high-end mixed reality hardware, many veterans see greater potential in refining AR capabilities for devices already in people’s pockets. Drummond’s choice reflects a pragmatic view that smartphone-based AR can reach a far wider audience without the barriers of cost, comfort, or social acceptance that plague dedicated headsets.

His story is not just a career move but a statement about the evolution of augmented reality. As the industry debates whether the future is tethered to goggles or screens, Drummond is casting his lot with the latter, betting that the next wave of innovation will come from the device you already carry.