Qualcomm and Microsoft are collaborating to develop a new Snapdragon chip for use in AR glasses designed for the Microsoft ecosystem. Qualcomm announced this during its presentation at the technology exhibition CES 2022.
“We are announcing the development of a custom Snapdragon augmented reality chip for the next generation of energy efficient, very lightweight AR glasses for the Microsoft ecosystem,” said Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm.
The platform will integrate software from both companies, the Microsoft Mesh platform and the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces XR development platform, he said. Mesh is a cross-platform AR / VR technology that connects headsets, tablets, smartphones and computers, while Spaces XR is aimed at mixed reality developers.
It is specifically noted that the new chip will be designed for light glasses that can be used for various tasks in mixed reality.
Microsoft's HoloLens 2 is currently powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 chipset. In recent years, Qualcomm has focused more on developing chips for AR and VR systems, including the Snapdragon XR2, which powers Facebook's Oculus Quest 2.
Prior to this, Microsoft and Qualcomm had jointly developed SQ1 and SQ2 processor variants for the Surface Pro X.
Microsoft introduced Mesh in early 2021. In November, the company announced Mesh for Teams, a mixed reality collaboration and meeting solution. The technology is based on Microsoft Mesh and is integrated with the Microsoft Teams platform. Prior to that, Microsoft agreed with Meta that Mark Zuckerberg's company will integrate the Workplace collaboration tool with Teams.
Meanwhile, analysts predict that at the end of 2022 Apple will release its own augmented reality headset, which in the future will be able to replace the iPhone. According to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the headset will be equipped with two processors, and the power of the main one will be comparable to that of the M1 for Mac.
Google is also actively recruiting employees to create an "Augmented Reality OS" for some "innovative AR device."
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