On Wednesday, Snap reported earnings for the first time. Most investors saw Snap’s results as a disappointment, primarily because they missed on revenue and didn’t meet DAU expectations. Investors expected Snapchat to reach about 168 million DAUs, but they only reached 166 million DAUs. That’s bad news for Snap, but good news for the field of Augmented Reality.

Competition is Heating Up in AR. Facebook is going directly at Snapchat with Instagram Stories. Since launching in August 2016, Instagram Stories has eclipsed Snapchat in DAUs. Facebook and Instagram understand the importance of AR in the future, and made a commitment to invest heavily in the area.

At F8, Mark Zuckerberg threw down the gauntlet, making it very clear that AR was an important area for Facebook and Instagram in the future. Facebook has taken an open approach to its camera, giving developers a set of tools with which they can create apps that run on Facebook’s camera platform. By opening this up, Facebook will see more, and better AR content within its application. Snapchat will likely follow suit and open up its camera for other developers as well.

Ultimately, the increase in competition between Snapchat and Facebook will push AR forward faster.

Disclaimer: We actively write about the themes in which we invest: artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, and augmented reality. From time to time, we will write about companies that are in our portfolio. Content on this site including opinions on specific themes in technology, market estimates, and estimates and commentary regarding publicly traded or private companies is not intended for use in making investment decisions. We hold no obligation to update any of our projections. We express no warranties about any estimates or opinions we make.