Qualcomm Announces First Dedicated Extended Reality Platform – XR1

Virtual and Augmented Reality headsets are slowly but surely, taking off. The novelty has faded, and more serious applications are putting the technology to use, backed by a number of companies in the tech market. However, despite the number of devices on the market, there are really only two providers for the core of the systems, one being Samsung, and the other being Qualcomm.

Qualcomm’s chips are found the vast majority of devices, from the standalone Oculus Go, to the higher-end Lenovo Mirage, each catering to different market segments and prices. While VR is the primary focus, there is still growth for Augmented and Mixed reality too, all of which share some of the same fundamentals in the technology, which is why Qualcomm unifies the terms as XR, or eXtended Reality.

XR gets mentioned a lot in Qualcomm’s press releases, mainly with its Snapdragon SoCs used in mobile devices, as those phones are often paired with VR glasses of some kind, or putting the same technology to use with advanced video capture techniques. However, standalone devices for VR are still a relatively new market.

Up until now, standalone VR headsets have used smartphone SoCs, and older models at that to keep prices down, and later on it’s dedicated VR soC. Qualcomm is now launching its first range of SoCs dedicated to XR, with the aptly named XR1 platform. These will be a bit more than just a cutback mobile SoC, but much of the core design will be based on the same Snapdragon 845 which will soon be found in the latest flagship smartphones. Specifics of the chip were not revealed just yet, but we expect to see more detail coming soon with the launch of the first devices. It’s likely to share many characteristics with the Snapdragon VR platform too, but with extras like the AI capabilities needed for AR.

Lenovo Mirage Standalone VR Headset With Snapdragon VR SoC

Currently, VR’s biggest focus is on video, largely because of the limited graphical rendering capabilities compared to something like a PC, and also being limited to three-degrees of freedom, 3DoF. This is largely because of price, since 6DoF requires more sensors and processing power. However, VR for movies is still a good experience, as it’s like having a whole cinema to yourself. As 6DoF becomes cheaper, we’re going to see more games, and then a bigger push for more graphical rendering power.

Qualcomm also wanted to push more AI and machine learning buzzwords, as seems to be the latest craze in marketing. The reality though is that VR headsets actually do need AI in some form – not just for augmented reality overlays and object detection, but something a little more mundane, voice commands. The problem with headsets is that all you have to interact with the unit, is an often limited remote, with all of 3 buttons. Positional tracking of the headset can be used as a crude pointer, but it would just be easier to issue voice commands instead. Voice recognition, despite how common it can be with things like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Siri, and Cortana, can be incredibly difficult to process efficiently, hence the big push for AI.

Qualcomm already has partners signed up for XR1, with the most notable being HTC Vive, but also includes Meta, Vuzix, and Picoare. More will be added later, likely when they have a product ready to go.