*By Bridgette Webb*
Step aside, iPhones ー the Apple Watch may be coming for your spot.
Christopher Mims, tech columnist for the Wall Street Journal, said Apple's wearables division may be the tech of company's future.
"Apple's strength at this point with wearables is creating accessories," Mims said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
"You don't need the AirPods, you don't need the Watch or the glasses, but if you put them together, and you have a wireless connection, it might allow a new kind of computing ー a new way to interact with your environment."
Augmented reality, Mims said, is another area of focus for Apple. CEO Tim Cook has expressed enthusiasm for the industry, saying last year that he believes the tech will change the way the public operates forever.
But AR technology is still in its infancy, and mass adoption remains a pipe dream for insiders. As of now, Apple's ARKit can only add digital objects through an iPhone's camera. It's a feature that Mims said will continue to pose a challenge for the Silicon Valley giant.
"Apple's real challenge is no one knows what AR is for," Mims said.
"But we don't know what the killer app for consumers will be. I wouldn't be surprised if it were just some updated version of Pokémon GO," he said.
Apple will debut new its products and features on September 12 at an iPhone event in Cupertino, Calif.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/apples-next-act).
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