Qualcomm is also introducing updated wireless augmented reality glasses concept alongside its new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 mobile chips, which could be an important stepping stone between the clunky wired AR devices of 2022 and whatever AR glasses are waiting at the end of the decade (assuming Meta, Google, and Apple don’t give up).
More mobile processors are Qualcomm’s main concept for wireless AR glasses (perhaps unsurprisingly). The idea design uses a Snapdragon XR2 in the glasses and a Snapdragon chip in your Android phone, splitting the hard computational requirements of generating an AR experience between the two.
Data from hand and eye tracking is received and processed on the XR2 in the glasses, then wirelessly sent to an Android phone running an AR software, which delivers compressed rendered frames back to the glasses for you to view in AR. To operate effectively, the system requires Qualcomm’s FastConnect technology (essentially a bundle of Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth), which is built in on recent Snapdragon CPUs.
Qualcomm’s reference design is more akin to Verizon’s wired Nreal Light headgear than anything like Microsoft’s HoloLens or the Magic Leap 1. The main distinction is in optics. Qualcomm’s AR effect is achieved using twin 1,920 x 1,080 90Hz micro-LED screens driven by a compact 650 mAh battery, with two black and white cameras for tracking and one RGB camera for streaming video, rather than a costly waveguide system like Magic Leap.
Qualcomm predicts that with that configuration, you’ll get roughly 30 minutes of active use, but battery life may vary depending on what you’re doing and whatever changes Qualcomm makes to its design. When questioned, Qualcomm would only say that glasses based on its concept will be released by one of its partners.
Qualcomm’s notion feels like a meaningful halt in the middle while most big tech companies strive towards producing some form of AR device. The company’s semiconductors are widely used in Android phones, and it has demonstrated its capabilities in virtual reality headsets such as the Quest 2.
