At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Qualcomm revealed the on-device AI capabilities of the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip for virtual and mixed reality headsets. During the January 10 keynote, Qualcomm Chairman and CEO Cristiano Amon talked about enterprise use cases for virtual reality, including providing digital environments for training. He suggested three questions that VR and MR can answer for the enterprise: “How do you train people? How do you become completely immersed in that digital environment? How do you develop communication?” Additionally, Amon discussed his predictions for the future of AI-augmented phones.
Note: This article was updated to reflect the January 10 Qualcomm keynote. TechRepublic is covering CES 2024 remotely.
Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chips enhance mixed and virtual reality meetings
The Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 is the follow-up to the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform for AI, VR, and mixed reality. The Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 offers the following:
- 4.3K by 4.3K resolution per eye.
- 90 frames per second.
- Supports 12 or more concurrent cameras for movement tracking
- Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.
Compared to Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, the GPU frequency is 15% higher and the CPU frequency is 20% higher. This helps the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 deliver smooth “room-scale screens, life-size overlays and virtual desktops.” XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Hugo Swart, vice president and general manager of the company, said in a press release.
Look: In more CES 2024 news, HP launched its Specter x360 16 2-in-1 and Specter x360 14 2-in-1 laptops that are capable of running native AI workloads. (TechRepublic)
“Our job was to build a computing engine that could run that technology (AI) broadly,” Amon said during Qualcomm’s CES keynote. “We are at the point where those (AI) capabilities are becoming available in processors and semiconductors. The next step is to develop those use cases and applications.”
For businesses and employees, this means more efficient virtual desktops, virtual meetings, and virtual demonstrations. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean generic AI is running on the headset; Instead, single-chip AI performance helps keep track of all the data needed to merge digital and physical images.
“Spatial computing is going to be another computing platform that is ultimately going to achieve much larger scale,” Amon said during the keynote address.
Qualcomm competes with Apple, Intel and NVIDIA
Samsung and Google will use the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 in their planned virtual reality offerings (Figure A) running on Android, which could eventually compete with the Apple Vision Pro. The Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 currently competes with Intel’s AI PC technology for light devices and automotive, as well as NVIDIA’s semiconductors.
Figure A
Qualcomm looks forward to AI-enhanced phones
During his keynote speech, Amon discussed Qualcomm’s history in the mobile phone field. Developing chips to run AI represents an evolution in mobile device technology, he said, but he doesn’t predict AI-powered devices will replace today’s phones.
Instead, Amon said, “What’s going to happen now is that the phone is going to have a different role, which is not only what it used to be, where the phone is good for all the apps you have, In fact, the phone is also going to do the same.” Communicating with the cloud. The phone isn’t going anywhere, but it is being enhanced by AI.
For example, Amon said, someone could ask a generative AI assistant to call Uber. Instead of using the Uber app on a phone, the generative AI assistant can connect directly to Uber through the cloud.
Qualcomm’s car tech news at CES 2024
Qualcomm continued the classic CES trend of showing off the latest automotive technology with its Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, which enables connected car services for on-the-go work and life efficiency. Other connected car offerings from Qualcomm being showcased at CES 2024 include:
- The Snapdragon Ride platform, which helps global automakers and tier-1 suppliers build autonomous driving solutions up to Level 3 driving assistance functions such as lane keeping and automatically maintaining speed.
- Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC, centralized computing for digital cockpit, driver assistance and some autonomous driving functions on a single system-on-chip.
- Snapdragon Car-to-Cloud services provide a way for organizations to upgrade to connected car services.
- The collaboration with AWS provides a highly efficient cloud-native environment for automotive application development and deployment.
- Snapdragon digital chassis SoC for small vehicles and two-wheelers for agricultural or farming vehicles.
One of the upgrades is Qualcomm’s “Next Generation Gen AI-enabled Digital Cockpit” for generic AI at the edge (in this case, on the go). This means that cars, depending on the individual brand and app offering, can run generative AI apps to dynamically update information related to drivers on the road. Services and recommendations can be personalized, and apps can anticipate the driver’s preferences and needs.
“Our commitment to advancing automotive technology in support of global automakers, tier-1 suppliers, and our ecosystem partners is helping shape the future of software-defined vehicles and positioning us as a leader in the automotive industry,” said senior Nakul Duggal. Taking us into a new era.” In a press release, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Vice President and General Manager of Automotive and Cloud Computing.
