Qualcomm announced Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1, a triple-chip solution for wireless AR glasses.
AR2 isn’t designed to power standalone devices. It handles computer vision tasks like position tracking and hand tracking but an external device with a more powerful Qualcomm chip, such as a smartphone or compute puck, runs the actual AR apps and streams the output wirelessly to the glasses.
The link is handled by Qualcomm’s latest FastConnect 7800 wireless chip, which supports the new Wi-Fi 7 standard. Qualcomm claims the stream latency is less than 2 milliseconds. Current AR glasses such as Nreal Light connect to the host phone via a USB-C cable.
Snapdragon AR2 is built on a 4nm process node. Qualcomm claims it consumes just half the power of the Snapdragon XR2 used in standalone headsets, and the multi-chip solution distributes the heat generated throughout the device instead of concentrating it in one location.
This low power consumption & heat distribution means AR2 can be paired with smaller batteries and much lighter cooling systems than traditional chipsets, enabling devices with a form factor approaching regular glasses.
Quaclomm says multiple companies are working on products leveraging AR2 including LG, Lenovo, Xiaomi, TCL, Sharp, OPPO, Pico, and Nreal.
