New smart glasses coming from Qualcomm and Pokemon Go creator Niantic
/There's a race for the next great pair of smart glasses. Apple is reportedly working on a pair. So is Facebook. And Niantic Labs, creator of AR phone games Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, said Thursday it's collaborating with Qualcomm on a reference design solution that will mix hardware, software and cloud services, using a just-announced ARVR Snapdragon XR2 chip for phone and PC-free headsets.
Unlike previous AR headsets like the Magic Leap and the HoloLens 2, which have been expensive and targeted at enterprise or deep-pocketed entrepreneurs, it sounds like Qualcomm and Niantic's plan is to find ways to make affordable AR smart glasses (and software) that everyday people might actually wear. There's no clear time frame for when this design might emerge, but it seems like it'll run parallel to existing efforts from other companies like Apple over the next few years.