Qualcomm Inc announced a new chipset namely Snapdragon XR1, its first dedicated Extended Reality (XR) platform, to power standalone virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. This is Qualcomm’s attempt to expand its business beyond the realms of smartphones.
The newly dedicated chipset got introduced at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California today.
The AR/VR industry seems to have developed quite an interest in building standalone headsets recently. With standalone headsets such as Facebook’s Oculus Go and Google Daydream powered Lenovo Mirage Solo ruling the market, it is quite evident that the need for powerful chipsets to power these devices is only going to rise.
Snapdragon XR1, the first ever dedicated XR platform
Let’s look at the features that the makes the new chipset quite a powerful device to have for the standalone headsets:
Qualcomm’s goal with this chip design is an effort to make it easy for the AR/VR hardware manufacturers to design and build headsets which are cheap yet powerful and energy-efficient. The XR1 consists of an SDK which helps manufacturers to implement some of these features, as well as Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities.
The famous Oculus Go makes use of Qualcomm smartphone chip and Lenovo Mirage solo also uses Qualcomm phone processors but the battery life of the standalone headsets is not comparable to that of a smart-phone. Now, with chipsets being built specifically for these headsets, the battery life would improve considerably.
Qualcomm is not the only one working on manufacturing chips dedicated to headsets, others are aiming at similar technologies too.
Apple is working on developing its own chip for the AR glasses which will be on sale in early 2020. Nvidia and Intel are among the others that want to join the game.
It is also worth noting that Qualcomm is on the lookout for new sources of revenue as the smartphone industry is drying up and competition is continually increasing. Qualcomm will team up with other existing headset makers that plan to include the chip such as HTC ( Vive ), Vuzix, Meta, and Pico.
With Qualcomm unveiling the new Snapdragon XR1 at the Augmented World Expo today, the AR/VR manufacturers across the globe have received an extra boost in terms of shipping hardware for the AR/VR space.
For more details on Snapdragon XR1, check out the official Qualcomm press release.
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