Qualcomm and Microsoft don't seem to want to lag behind in the metaverse trend, and they're working on a special chip for augmented reality (AR) glasses.
For Qualcomm and Microsoft, good hardware is an important key to increasing adoption of new technologies. This is the basis for their collaboration to work on chips for AR glasses.
The chips they worked on will be used in lightweight and energy-efficient smart glasses that will be released in the Microsoft product ecosystem. The announcement was made during Qualcomm's keynote at CES 2022, where the two companies said they wanted to accelerate the adoption of mixed reality solutions, both for the consumer and enterprise classes.
Another plan is to integrate the two companies' AR platforms. Namely Microsoft Mesh and Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform.
"This collaboration represents the next step for both companies who are both committed to XR and the metaverse. We look forward to working with Microsoft to expand and increase the adoption of AR hardware and software across a wide range of industries," said Hugo Swart, VP and GM of XR at Qualcomm.
In the metaverse realm, Microsoft admits that it is working on something more practical and tangible than the metaverse concept, and invites Qualcomm to help develop special chips to improve its hardware capabilities. However, they did not say when the chip or smart glasses would be released.
Previously, the two companies had collaborated several times. Like Windows on Arm, then the Snapdragon chip specifically for the Surface Pro X, and the Snapdragon 850 used in HoloLens 2, which is a mixed reality headset.
According to Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, currently more than 200 consumers in the enterprise class have adopted Snapdragon-based laptops, as quoted by Techspot.
