Qualcomm Announces XR1 AR Smart Viewer Reference Design

Chip maker Qualcomm introduced a new reference design for augmented reality glasses: an AR “smart viewer” that you can connect to a phone or PC via USB-C. Called the XR1 Smart Viewer, the system was developed to be lightweight and look (more or less) with sunglasses, while allowing features such as hand tracking and spatial perception. The first glasses based on its design are expected to be launched in mid-2021.

The XR1 was designed as a consumer-friendly “must-have accessory” for phones and computers, rather than a standalone product. It uses two 1920 x 1080 OLED monitors with a 90 Hz refresh rate, as well as a series of cameras, to add a virtual overlay to the real world. The camera array can also support hand tracking as a control scheme and can detect planes in the environment, so you can do things like attach a virtual window to a wall for multiple PC monitors – or place a virtual object on a table and interact with him through gesture controls. Like most AR glasses, however, they have a relatively limited 45-degree field of view, which is roughly similar to Microsoft HoloLens 2.

Qualcomm

Lenovo has already announced a product based on the reference design of the XR1 Smart Viewer: the ThinkReality A3 glasses, which was unveiled at CES earlier this year. ThinkReality A3 glasses are expected to launch in mid-2021 at a currently unlisted price, following Lenovo’s A6 headset with a focus on 2019 business.

The XR1 Smart Viewer is different from the Snapdragon XR1 or XR2 platforms – a pair of chipsets optimized for virtual and augmented reality glasses, including last year’s XR2-based Oculus Quest 2. It was designed to perform some tasks using integrated electronics, but transfers other tasks to an external computing device, allowing for a lighter design.

Qualcomm has spent the past two years promoting the adoption of AR glasses, which it believes could stimulate the nascent 5G mobile phone market by popularizing high-bandwidth mixed reality applications. Previously, he partnered with the Chinese company Nreal on Nreal Light, one of the only consumer-facing AR viewers – which connects to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or 865 phone. Nreal Light was launched late last year in Korea and in Japan, and yesterday, Nreal announced that it will reach the European Union and the United States later this year.

So far, AR glasses have struggled to reach the mainstream. However, ThinkReality A3 and any other products based on XR1 Smart Viewer may end up competing with some major companies. Facebook announced its imminent entry into AR hardware last year and is planning to launch a set of Ray-Ban smart glasses with limited AR capabilities in late 2021. It is rumored that Apple is also making an AR / VR headset from last generation focused on building a developer ecosystem.