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Qualcomm believes in mixed reality.
Like me, Qualcomm sees a future where our current smartphones sit more comfortably as glasses upon our faces.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 reference device glasses
I believe the next big thing after smartphones will be glasses, and some folks at Qualcomm agree.
When we talk about a face-mounted wearable, Qualcomm imagines two distinct categories of devices.
There will be powerful computing tools, likeApples Vision Proheadset, coming next year.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 reference device glasses
These will likely resemble larger glasses or goggles for the foreseeable future.
There will also be smaller wearables that look like normal glasses.
They will also be completely transparent when appropriate.
Snapdragon AR2 reference device lenses give you 45 degrees of mixed reality
These glasses will sense and interact with your environment.
To that end, Qualcomm is being very platform-agnostic.
It isnt trying to compete withApplein creating a spatial computing ecosystem.
It’s building the tools, and then a variety of other companies can use them to create.
The company sees the spatial aspect of mixed reality as a key to the next generation of wearable glasses.
What needed to change?
Camera on both lenses for the Snapdragon AR2 reference device
I cant, its not worth it for me to do video calling.
So this piece needed to be improved.
Its no surprise that displays are the biggest improvement needed in our face-mounted future.
These are powerful and capable, but they wont replace the smartphone.
Thats a good start, but the ultimate future will be much more exciting, according to Swart.
The Holy Grail is, you know, glasses.
A hundred-degree field of view.
I walk with it on.
I dont need displays, I dont need TVs.
I dont need laptops.
I mean, thats of course where we want to get.
Besides the display, what else will be a problem?
Swart lists connectivity, processing power, and content.
It turns out, that wont be the problem I expected.
When I think about our face-mounted future, I worry that battery life will be a huge problem.
It will be, but its a problem that Qualcomm can anticipate.
Battery technology doesnt improve so quickly, and we know how much power will be available.
Compare that to todays smartphones.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset can draw almost 15 Watts of power.
Mobile chipsets in laptops and tablets can draw 25 Watts or more.
AnInteli9 processor draws 45 Watts.
My expectation is that phones and other compute units, personal compute units, are going to morph."
Qualcomm definitely has a plan to take reality further than it currently goes.
