The founder unveils his second connected glasses project. Now wireless, they are also more powerful than the Qualcomm Smart Viewer.
The American firm has just launched its new generations of chips for smartphones, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 et Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. She also took advantage of the event to announce her new pair of augmented reality glasses, the Wireless AR Smart Viewer.
Remember that the manufacturer is not intended to directly market this type of product to the general public. It is more of a concept, which he then offers to companies responsible for selling them under their own brand.
Qualcomm is not its first project in this area. In February 2021, it announced its first generation of AR glasses, dubbed XR1 Smart Viewer. The teams in charge of R&D did not rest on this product and made a certain number of modifications to it.
A futuristic look
The new Wireless AR Smart Viewer changes design and leaves a design quite close to classic sunglasses for a more futuristic look, but also thinner. On the front, the thickness is thus reduced from 25 to 15.6 mm, while the branches are also refined (9.2 mm against 9.5 on their predecessor). Qualcomm still mentions a weight of 115 grams, or about double the Ray-Ban Stories.
On the technology side, one of the biggest changes is their move to wireless connectivity. They thus abandon their USB-C cable in favor of Wi-Fi 6/6E and Bluetooth.
These Wireless AR Smart Viewers are also equipped with micro-OLED screens, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 90 Hz, similar characteristics to the first generation. They also carry two monochrome cameras and an RGB for head and hand tracking for mixed reality experiences.
A tenfold power
As a founder, Qualcomm has naturally revised the SoC of its new pair of AR glasses. He designed the Snapdragon XR2, which he presents as a more efficient chip with lower latency, estimated at 3 ms between the computer/the smartphone and Wireless AR Smart Viewers. However, he specifies that to achieve such a low lag, the mobile or PC must be equipped with a Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 chip.
The American firm could therefore give a boost to this still nascent market and help certain manufacturers to face up to giants like Meta whose program seems particularly busy for the next few years, but also Apple, which should soon unveil its first AR devices.