Technology company Apple Inc. has acquired augmented reality startup Flyby Media as it gears toward virtual reality.

MarketWatch noted that Apple's acquisition of the new company happened last Friday. It added that this move will give the tech giant a chance "to connect the physical and virtual worlds."

Reports claimed that the expertise of the startup company is focused on helping mobile devices see and identify things in the physical world. Flyby also reportedly makes mobile applications that connect the digital world to the physical one.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," an Apple spokesperson told MarketWatch.

Financial Times stated in a report that Flyby Media previously worked with Google to develop their 3D positioning technology called Project Tango.

Project Tango, as per its official website, allows people to navigate the physical world using their mobile.

"[It] brings a new kind of spatial perception to the Android device platform by adding advanced computer vision, image processing, and special vision sensors," added the website.

TechCrunch explained that the application developed by Flyby scans items in the real world and identifies and saves them in a list of shared objects. Friends can then send messages to the object as they communicate with each other.

The same report mentioned that the technology behind this seemed to have attracted Apple to acquire the company.

Along with this effort, Financial Times said Apple has set up a team to start exploring possibilities on virtual reality.

This team reportedly includes hundreds of employees who are expected to work on a next-generation VR headset of the company.

Apple has recently stepped up its virtual reality plans by hiring top VR researcher Doug Bowman.

TechTimes noted that the technology company has tapped the services of the computer science professor and the Virginia Tech Center for Human-Computer Interaction director to keep up with rival firms, which are also stepping up efforts in virtual reality.

It also mentioned that Bowman's forte lies in 3D user interface design. His expertise will reportedly be used in future Apple projects like its Project Titan or its plan to make a self-driving electric vehicle.

According to Time, the company's acquisition of Bowman could also be a signal that the company will soon pursue VR and augmented reality (AR) technology.

Last year, Apple also nabbed a lead audio engineer from the HoloLens team of Microsoft, and then acquired AR firm Metaio and motion-capture company Faceshift.

These efforts are greatly believed to be part of the company's plan to make a top-of-the-line VR or AR device.