Qualcomm
The Apple Vision Pro is popping out someday in early 2024, and since it’s a VR/AR headset that runs iOS apps, Team Android want to have a competitor accessible. Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm vaguely introduced a mixed-reality partnership a yr in the past, which might have Qualcomm constructing chips, Google constructing software program, and Samsung delivery merchandise. Step 1 of this partnership has been introduced: The Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ SoC, which can energy many of these headsets from Samsung and others.
Perhaps extra attention-grabbing than the person specs of Qualcomm’s chip is all of the accomplice discuss surrounding the launch. Samsung says it is “thrilled to collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies and Google in revolutionizing the cell business as soon as extra” and guarantees a “best-in-class XR expertise for Galaxy customers.” Google is promising an “immersive and spatial XR” expertise primarily based on Android. Qualcomm is making a reference headset design primarily based on the chip and says no less than 5 firms have {hardware} in improvement, together with Samsung, Google, HTC, Immersed, and Play for Dream.
Qualcomm
The XR2+ Gen 2 is an improve over the XR2 Gen 2 (non-plus) that got here out in 2023 and shipped within the Meta Quest 3. The most vital distinction is a bump in decision, with the plus mannequin supporting “4.3K” decision per eye at 90 fps. The outdated chip solely did 3K by 3K. The decision of these headsets is important, not simply because video games will look nicer, however in the event you’re attempting to show a digital desktop and browse textual content, you are pushing the decision limits of present headsets.
You’ll want extra energy to push all these pixels, and Qualcomm says the plus mannequin “delivers 15% larger GPU and 20% larger CPU max frequency” in comparison with the outdated XR2. The chip helps “12 or extra concurrent cameras and devoted XR acceleration blocks allow unprecedented interactions together with hand, head, controller, facial features, depth estimation, and 3D reconstruction.” There’s pass-through video help with 12 ms latency and help for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3.
No one promised a delivery window that we may see, however with Samsung’s large present on January 17, perhaps it can tease its headset a bit.