Flashspoter - Qualcomm officially introduced its latest processor for augmented and Mixed Reality devices, Snapdragon Reality Elite, at the Augmented World Expo (AWE) event. The Snapdragon Reality Elite lays the foundation for future AR and MR devices, offering a slimmer design, more efficient power consumption, and significantly improved AI performance than previous generations of chips. The move marks a shift in Qualcomm's strategy from previously using the "XR" branding to a focus on "see-through" devices and generative artificial intelligence-based features.
Spec wise, Reality Elite is capable of supporting resolutions up to 4.4 K per eye at 90 frames per second, a moderate improvement over the XR2+ Gen 2. But even more significant is the increased power efficiency, with up to 20 percent less battery life and up to 12 degrees Celsius cooler operating temperatures. This is the key for wearable devices that have been plagued by heat and battery life problems.
In terms of performance, this chip offers a pretty dramatic leap. GPUs saw a 60 percent increase, CPUs went up 30 percent, and NPUs jumped up to 160 percent over the previous generation. This combination allows the headset to run advanced AI features such as photorealistic avatars and agent capabilities that can act on the user's behalf, without compromising the size or convenience of the device.
The first device to use the chip is Xreal's Aura glasses, which run on the Android XR platform and were briefly previewed at Google I/O last month. Aura belongs to the category of headsets to which a separate processing module is connected via a cable, in contrast to standalone headsets that have the entire set of components inside the device. This approach allows for a sleeker and lighter design of the glasses, while still providing capable computing power.
In addition to Reality Elite, Qualcomm is also launching a new platform for smart glasses called START, which stands for Scalable Turnkey AI-Ready Toolkit. The Platform is a ready-to-use solution for companies that want to produce smart glasses or other AI-powered wearables without having to develop from scratch. The START package includes a module with an AR1+ chip, as well as integrated software including companion apps for iOS and Android.
Qualcomm has teamed up with a number of component manufacturers to provide white label eyewear designs that support the START platform. Glasses brand companies can choose a ready-made design or adapt it to their own needs. Qualcomm's initial partner for START is Britain's inspectors, which holds licenses for brands like O'neill, Barbour, and Superdry, opening up opportunities for more fashion brands to experiment with AI technology.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed in an interview with CNBC that his company is currently working on more than 40 new AI device designs. These devices include a variety of shapes, from jewelry, earbuds with a camera, pins, to watches, all of which are designed to always be with the user and have the ability to see the world around. Amon believes that this wearable device will be the end point for AI agents to interact with users.
Amon also predicts that AI agents will change the way we interact with apps on mobile. According to him, applications will not die, but their role will shift, and it is these agents that will become "new applications" that understand user intent and perform various tasks automatically. This shift in the center of gravity from the phone to the agent opens up opportunities for new devices to become the center of digital life, with the phone remaining but functioning as one of the devices around the agent.
Amon is so confident in the growth potential of smart glasses, he even predicts that the number of units shipped to the global market could reach hundreds of millions per year in the next few years. Currently, shipments of smart glasses have reached tens of millions of units per year, and Amon believes this category can be as big as the smartphone market which reaches 1.26 billion units by 2025. Companies such as Meta and Samsung are already developing glasses with cameras, indicating that competition in this segment will be even tougher.
The entry of AI companies into the hardware market is also a phenomenon that has caught Amon's attention. According to him, AI companies recognize the importance of winning "endpoints" for their agents, and wearables are becoming the key to collecting data on a much larger scale than the data used to train AI models today. This Data is important for training future models and creating a more personalized AI experience for each user.
With the changing shape of increasingly smaller devices, the chip architecture also has to adapt. Amon confirmed that Qualcomm's entire product roadmap is currently in the process of upgrading, as none of the devices currently available are ready for an AI-powered future. This suggests that competition in the semiconductor industry for wearable devices will intensify in the next few years.
The launch of Reality Elite and the START platform shows that Qualcomm is not only focused on improving technical specifications, but also on an ecosystem that allows more players to enter the smart glasses market. The move aligns well with Amon's vision of a future where AI devices will be an integral part of daily life, and Qualcomm wants its chips to be the backbone of those devices.
Source: Engadget, CNBC, The Verge, TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE.