According to Korean time on November 17, 2022, Qualcomm announced the AR2 Gen1 platform at its Snapdragon Summit.
Reference Qualcomm official blog content
Although it is named AR2, it seems like the second version was announced, but that is not the case; it is said that the platform name is AR2 and the first version has been released.
Qualcomm is a dominant force in the world of VR devices, as the Meta Quest 2, Pro, and MR devices like HoloLens commonly use Qualcomm chips as their internal chipsets.
Hololens 2 : Snapdragon 850
Meta Quest Pro : Snapdragon XR2 Gen1 +
In the meantime, this time it launched the AR2 platform for the AR glasses market.
According to the official blog, the most important point of the AR2 platform is that it is designed to be divided into three chips for distributed placement. There is a chip in the center that mainly takes on the role of an AR Co-Processor, and on the right is a chip called an AR Processor that handles display-related processing, and on the left, a chip for data communication appears to be placed.
The most important part of an AR glass platform is low weight and low power consumption, as it is a device worn on the face, so it must be light, and at the same time, it must be usable for a long time with a single charge.
Therefore, the official blog explains the advantages of the AR2 platform as follows.
To support the design of very thin high-performance AR glasses, Snapdragon AR2 supports a multi-chip architecture combined with platform-level custom IP. Additionally, while the main processor occupies a 40% smaller PCB2 and provides 2.5x better AI performance, AR glasses consume 50% less power at under 1W. Therefore, they can provide a more diverse AR glasses usage experience that is comfortable to wear for long periods and satisfies both consumer and enterprise demands.[Source] [Press Release] Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon AR2 Platform, an AR Platform Innovating AR Glasses|Author Qualcomm Korea
It is not entirely clear how much you can use with a 1W power limit, but I speculate that it will provide the most optimized development environment among existing AR glass manufacturing platforms.
Qualcomm likely spent a lot of effort creating this for customers, collecting experiences and materials so far and building a platform that fits their requirements. It seems they put a lot of work into creating a device in the form of glasses.
Furthermore, a crucial factor for building AR glasses is the spatial awareness via the front-facing camera and the utilization of cameras for gesture recognition such as hand tracking. It is reported that the platform supports up to 9 cameras simultaneously and handles other sensor processing.
The AR processor is optimized for low motion-to-photon latency while supporting up to 9 cameras simultaneously for understanding users and the environment. Enhanced recognition features include a dedicated hardware acceleration engine for improving user motion tracking and accurate location measurement, an AI accelerator to reduce latency for sensitive input interactions such as hand tracking or 6DoF, and a reprojection engine for a seamless experience.
The AR co-processor synthesizes camera and sensor data to support iris authentication for eye tracking and foVEated rendering, optimizing data from the user's point of view to reduce power consumption.[Source] [Press Release] Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon AR2 Platform Innovating AR Glasses|Author Qualcomm Korea
Although we will need to consider the actual effectiveness once the products are released, Qualcomm has clearly put a lot of thought into the needs of its customers. During the presentation, it was also announced that well-known IT device manufacturers and companies specializing in VR and AR devices, such as Lenovo, LG, Niantic, OPPO, PICO, Konoc, Rokid, Sharp, TCL, VIZIO, and Xiaomi, are already considering developing products using the AR2 platform.
Since I currently own devices from Meta Quest 2 and Hololens 2, and both companies are putting significant effort into AR glasses, I believe that products utilizing the AR2 platform will be better than existing products.
Indeed, following yesterday's announcement, Niantic, famous for Pokémon GO, announced that it will launch an AR glass product in collaboration with Qualcomm.
As the saying goes, even if a pearl is a bead, it must be strung to be a treasure; similarly, even if the AR2 platform is well-received, the results will vary greatly depending on the level of hardware manufacturers utilizing it and the software built upon it. It is highly anticipated that Niantic, which has the highest track record and understanding of AR among all companies, especially Pokémon GO, will manufacture related products.
Of course, naturally, the AR2 platform did not contain specific details about the optical display section; however, since the display is an even more critical area in AR glass product lines than the chipset, I was curious about how different companies would approach it. It was good to be able to make some predictions while looking at Niantic's news.
Since I became very interested in Niantic's moves, I checked their website and found that they have even posted a job opening in Korea.
It is likely that once a manager is hired soon, there will be explanation sessions or other support in Korea as well... It is highly anticipated.
Niantic Korea Recruitment
https://careers.nianticlabs.com/ko/openings/growth-scout-korea-[contract]/
From the perspective of using Meta Quest 2 and Lenovo Air, it feels like the mass adoption of AR glasses is one step closer. In fact, both Meta Quest 2 and Lenovo Air are excellent in terms of comfort and video quality. However, while connecting to a phone is convenient in some ways, it is ultimately inconvenient, and the desire to use them standalone grows stronger. With the arrival of the AR2 platform, related companies will likely be able to release many simpler and more stylish products.
Enreal Review
In a recent interview, he expressed his hope that the MR environment and experience brought about by HoloLens 2 would be introduced to more people.. With Qualcomm's unveiling of the AR2 platform, I look forward to the possibility of even more amazing products appearing in 2023.