TL;DR
The global Augmented reality phenomenon Pokemon Go has a new update – but it doesn’t add a new generation of Pokemon. Instead, it takes advantage of iOS 11’s new advanced augmented reality features to give you an almost life-like & in-depth look at them.
A Pokemon Go blog post says “The new AR+ feature builds on the base core Augmented Reality gameplay of Pokémon Go but goes on to leverage Apple’s ARKit framework to vastly enhance the dynamics and visuals of making it feel like you’re catching Pokémon in the real world”.
What this means is that Pikachu and fellow Pocket Monsters will now be just the right size based on where you encounter them. Moving closer to them or further away will make them change in size and perspective (assuming you’re doing this on an iPhone 6s or newer).
Pokemon Go developer Niantic says that if you’re smooth and sneaky enough you even stand to earn a new capture bonus with each creature, proving that this isn’t a superficial update after all. And given AR’s track record in treating a device’s battery like a block of ice under the sun, the usage of this new feature for anything more than screenshots of lifelike Pokemon to post on Instagram and Snapchat is a guessing game by itself now.
