Why not just a phone camera?

If all of this data is transmitted from a mobile platform, why not just put all of that augmented data into a device such as a smartphone? The reason a phone or camera is not self-aware or has its own computer vision is that every website or that relies on the device to transmit data has its own data stack. The design of augmented reality is applied to apps because apps can provide what is needed for the transfer of data to occur. For that reason, there is currently no demand for app developers to give phones or cameras their own data stack. 

This is only the case for the time being, however. Apps are the facilitators of AR applications, but those applications will always be based on the current and most advanced technology. There may be a time when AR apps are used with different technology, or text stack is eventually homogenized into one standard. Only time will tell the future for augmented reality.