[tldr version: all the point cloud capture apps rushed out an update when the iPhone 15 Pro was released because they were capturing far fewer points on that device. The same is observed with the new M4 iPad Pro. What was the fix for compatibility with these new devices?]
I am running an ARKit replay file through "Displaying a Point Cloud Using Scene Depth" from WWDC20 and recording the ARConfidenceLevel values of the incoming ARDepthData.
I am doing this side-by-side on an iPhone 12 Pro and an iPhone 15 Pro. The ARKit replay file was originally recorded on the 12 Pro.
We get a certain percentage of points where the ARConfidenceLevel is not ".high" when running on the iPhone 12 Pro. It's varies a lot by frame but averages about 5% and is the same on all devices prior to the iPhone 15 Pro.
The same test using the same iPhone 12 Pro replay file on an iPhone 15 Pro gives about twice as many points where the ARConfidenceLevel is not ".high" (about 10% on average on this particular replay file).
This corresponds with real-world usage of our app on the iPhone 15 Pro where far fewer points are captured on that device compared with all previous models. (Our app filters out points where the ARConfidenceLevel is not ".high".)
Apple's interpretation of the same LiDAR data is clearly different on the iPhone 15 Pro and M4 iPad Pro when compared to earlier devices. Can you please advise how to maintain equivalent behaviour on the new devices?
Steps to reproduce:
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Run "Displaying a Point Cloud Using Scene Depth" from WWDC20 session 10611: Explore ARKit 4 following the instructions at https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arkit_in_ios/environmental_analysis/displaying_a_point_cloud_using_scene_depth
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Use Xcode's setting to replay data to ARKit while running on an iPhone 12 Pro (using any replay file recorded on that device). An iPhone 13 or 14 Pro will work just as well. Record what % of points have an ARConfidenceLevel that is not .high.
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Now do it again running the same replay file on an iPhone 15 Pro. Note that the % of points have an ARConfidenceLevel that is not .high is much higher.