Today, Qualcomm Technologies officially introduced the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform, a new Snapdragon chipset built to improve the quality of XR displays, visuals, and the overall user experience. Notably, the firm’s newly improved chipset will provide extended support for users and firms leveraging AR smart glasses with integrated AI features.
The XR2+ Gen 2 chipset joins the Snapdragon platform, which provides the foundation for AR/VR/MR application development, deployment, and adoption. Qualcomm is debuting the XR2+ Gen 2 chipset as an affordable option for vendors, providing a lower entry barrier for workplace AR/VR/MR.
The chipset also helps boost consumer and enterprise-grade XR use cases on headsets and smartglasses by leveraging partnerships with Samsung, Google, Tobii, and Goertek to provide visual clarity for gaming and productivity applications.
Qualcomm is setting the XR2+ Gen 2 as a tipping point in XR hardware design and innovation with its breakthrough features and specs, mixed with its launch partners.
Inkang Song, the Vice President and Head of the Technology Strategy Team at Samsung Electronics noted:
Samsung is thrilled to collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies and Google in revolutionizing the mobile industry once more. With Samsung’s mobile expertise and our joint commitment, we aim to create the best-in-class XR experience for Galaxy users.
On the other hand, Shahram Izadi, Vice President of AR at Google, noted how Android ecosystem support would enable developers to “take advantage of Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2’s capabilities and enable new experiences” in collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm to drive the future of immersive and spatial XR.
Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2: What’s New?
A leading selling point of the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset is the hardware’s ability to unlock 4.3K resolution, “which will take XR productivity and entertainment to the next level,” remarked Hugo Swart, the Vice President and General Manager of XR at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Swart explained that bringing “spectacularly clear visuals” to use cases that include demanding user display requirements such as room-scale screens, life-size overlays, and virtual desktops advances Qualcomm’s “commitment to power the best XR devices and experiences that will supercharge our immersive future.”
According to Qualcomm, the new chipset earns its “+” by bringing “realistic, detailed experiences” to MR and VR applications. The chipset can achieve this with an improved GPU power of 15 per cent and CPU frequency of 20 per cent.
By introducing the upgraded GPU considerations, Qualcomm can power AR/MR devices with more than 12 concurrent cameras that accurately track the user, their movements, and their environment. Moreover, the GPU upgrades also improve AI assistant features on smart glasses or headsets – a notable inclusion due to the rising popularity of AI-powered smart glasses from firms such as Meta.
The GPU improvements could also assist with enterprise and industrial adoption of XR technology, as increased support for the additional cameras will help users navigate their digital and real-world environments when using AR/MR displays, and AI assistants will have a greater understanding of a user’s surrounding and objects within it.
In addition to the 4.3K resolution and GPU improvements. The chipset also includes:
- 8x better AI performance
- 12ms full-colour video see-through
- 90 FPS support for the 4.3K x 4.3K resolution
- “Game Super Resolution”
- “Space Warp”
- Foveated rendering
- Support for depth sensors, eye tracking, hand tracking, face tracking, and controller tracking
- Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6/6E support
To support the chipset in the future, Qualcomm is working with more than 5 OEM partners – which includes Samsung, HTC Vive, Immersed, and Play for Dream – to leverage the hardware in real-world settings and provide positive outcomes and results stemming from the new technology. Moreover, to continue its OEM success, Qualcomm is developing an MR & VR reference design, which Goertek helped create and Tobii assisted by integrating its eye-tracking technology.
Qualcomm from Smartphones to XR
When Qualcomm released its Q3 earnings report last year, the firm revealed optimism towards its XR investments following a decline in smartphone sales. Thanks to a decreased return on providing smartphone technology, Qualcomm appears to double down on its XR investments – which supporters believe could be the next evolution of mobile computing technology.
During the call, Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s President and Chief Executive, expressed pleasure over the firm’s partnership with Meta to integrate the Snapdragon XR2+ chipset in the upcoming Quest 3 ahead of Connect 2023.
During the call, Amon also noted:
We are taking a conservative view of the market and will be proactively taking additional cost actions to ensure Qualcomm is well-positioned to deliver maximum value for stockholders in an uncertain environment
Qualcomm also works with Oppo, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, to support the development of XR applications in China. The upcoming Oppo MR Glass Developer Edition, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ platform, is expected to play a vital role in this effort.
However, Qualcomm’s smartphone sales have decreased by around 8.2% in the third quarter of the year. This fall in sales is possibly due to a decline in demand for smartphones in the Chinese market, which during the Q3 period experienced its worst-performing sales period in recent history.
Qualcomm kicked off 2024 with a bang thanks to the XR2+ Gen 2 chipset, and it may prove pivotal in creating a capital gain for the evolving tech firm.
