Another possible hurdle tripping up AR: poor performance. Like those virtual reality helmets, AR on smartphones delivers a lackluster user experience, at least when compared to its promises. Augmented data, for instance, takes too long to show up on the screen.

The problem might be due to current hardware limitations, namely the iPhone's multitasking ability. "If you wanted to navigate while listening to music--something I do in the car a lot--the phones will struggle with that," says tech analyst Rob Enderle. "Augmented reality is a huge performance hog, which is why it is in its infancy still."

Nevertheless, Apple recently doubled-down on AR. published last week by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that details a split screen on the iPad, separating the live camera feed from the AR information layer.

The also describes AR's challenge: "Despite strong academic and commercial interest in AR systems, many existing AR systems are complex and expensive making such systems unsuitable for general use by the average consumer."

The bet is that AR will make good on its promise in the future. The Apple filing gives examples of what may be possible. Imagine a teacher holding the iPad camera over a student's exam paper and seeing incorrect answers displayed over the live video on the screen. Or a doctor uses AR combined with pattern recognition on the iPad to get information about a patient.