Qualcomm’s VR Chip Boosts Apple Vision Pro Competitors
A Qualcomm processor that supports additional cameras, sensors, 4K video, and quick communications with tablets, computers, and phones might strengthen Google and Samsung’s mixed reality (MR) headgear.
Samsung and Google have kept quiet about their sophisticated mixed reality headset that will contend with Apple’s Vision Pro, but there is information that it will employ an innovative Qualcomm XR processor.
Samsung’s hardware and other forthcoming headsets will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 technology, revealed Thursday. Qualcomm’s latest processor specs reveal what Samsung’s headset may achieve as well as what an influx of more costly, pro-focused headgear might offer in the coming year or two.
Meta’s Quest 3, released last autumn, was the very first headgear featuring the cutting-edge XR2 Gen 2 processor, which improved graphics, colour passthrough camera quality, exterior camera capability, and AI features. However confusingly titled, the XR2 Plus Gen 2 processor is intended for a range of higher-end headsets that might rival Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro in capabilities and pricing.
Qualcomm has confirmed that, in addition to Samsung, the HTC Vive, Immersed, a software development firm that is currently creating its own VR visor, Chinese esports firm Play for Dream, and an unannounced hardware associate will be established at this year’s CES exhibit in Las Vegas within the next few days.
The new chip’s major benefits include higher-resolution screens and more concurrent cameras and trackers, enabling eye and full-body monitoring based on its hardware architecture. Qualcomm claims that users can expect a 90Hz refresh rate and 4.3K pixel resolution per eye with the new processor.
The higher resolution should enhance passthrough camera quality, said Bakadir, Senior Director, Product Management for VR/AR businesses. It supports higher camera resolutions and improves picture clarity on better monitors. Meta’s $500 Quest 3 boasts more powerful cameras than Quest 2, allowing applications to merge real-life camera video with VR to develop AR-like encounters that seem like they are in one’s environment. Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro has superior cameras and screens compared to the Quest 3, but Qualcomm’s latest processors may help Samsung’s and other brands achieve mixed-reality accuracy.
These Qualcomm-upgraded headsets should feature additional sensors. On Quest 3, the XR2 Plus Gen 2 supports 12 cameras and sensors, up from eight on the Gen 2. Some cameras may include depth sensors, motion tracking, or external video capture. Qualcomm said others will be internal: eye and facial tracking cameras like the Meta Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro. Meta might be another headset employing this technology if a Quest 3 Pro is launched.
Other sensors may be involved. Full-body tracking sensors and in-controller camera sensors like the Quest Pro controllers’ (which incorporate chips) may be used. New techniques to detect hand and body motions. Samsung and Google may deploy radar-based Soli sensor technology for near-body gesture detection, according to reports.
Qualcomm and Goertek created a reference device headset utilising Tobii eye-tracking cameras to investigate mixed reality-focused rendering with this chipset. This new technology may enable eye tracking in many headsets, but not in the Quest 3.
Support for Wi-Fi 7 might speed up laptop, tablet, and phone connections. Qualcomm currently possesses a split rendering innovation that distributes computing across headgear and other machines and is studying phone-AR glass integration. It thinks headgear with these processors might improve cross-device communication, including phone use. Bakadir said partners are discussing infrastructure, but phones are crucial. AI functions and sensors may be shared in addition to rendering. Bakadir suggests utilising a phone camera to monitor one’s body during a VR or AR exercise.
Apple is actively promoting the Vision Pro as a whole computer that connects to Macs. Samsung and Google can use their headsets to link better to PCs, smartphones, and Android OS.
According to Qualcomm’s press announcement, Google’s vice president of AR, Shahram Izadi, expressed enthusiasm for the ecosystem of Android to use the XR2 Plus Gen 2’s potential and create novel encounters.
Google and Samsung have kept their MR headset ambitions quiet since unveiling the alliance this past winter, but additional information is expected to arrive during the year. CNET previously reported that Samsung’s gadget could link to cell phones, and being interoperable with 2D applications on Google’s Play app store could provide it an edge against Meta, which runs an Android OS but cannot utilise Google Play apps.
