Niantic Partners With Qualcomm to Build 5G Augmented Reality Glasses
Pokémon GO creator Niantic teams up with Qualcomm to develop AR glasses powered by the new XR2 chipset. The collaboration aims to overcome current smartphone limitations by optimizing Niantic's Real World Platform for dedicated wearable hardware.
Pokémon GO creator Niantic partners with Qualcomm to develop 5G-ready augmented reality glasses. This collaboration centers on Qualcomm's newly announced XR2 chipset, which is built specifically to power AR and VR devices. Niantic CEO John Hanke views AR glasses as the next major computing platform after smartphones, making this partnership a crucial step toward that future.
Consumers do not see these AR glasses on store shelves immediately, as the collaboration spans multiple years. In the meantime, Niantic works with Qualcomm to define the reference hardware for AR glasses and determine exactly what the devices need to function well. Niantic also tunes its Real World Platform, the underlying architecture for its games, to ensure seamless compatibility with the XR2 chip.
Once the technology matures, Niantic plans to integrate these AR capabilities into its Real World Platform and offer them to developers in the Niantic Creator Program. Qualcomm brings extensive experience to the project, having spent over a year developing chips specifically for AR and VR applications following its earlier work with the Vuforia SDK.