HTC VIVE and Qualcomm collaborate to optimize VIVE Wave for Snapdragon Standalone XR HMDs And 5G Smartphones

April 4, 2019 - HTC VIVE has announced that they are working with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., to pre-integrate and optimize VIVE Wave for Qualcomm Technologies’ XR Standalone and 5G Smartphone reference designs, allowing OEMs that use select Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platforms to bring VIVE Wave-enabled devices to commercialization.

The collaboration also allows HTC VIVE to create a turnkey XR solution for Smartphone OEMs unlocking access to the VIVEPORT app store to deliver an XR offering to consumers through XR Viewers tethered via USB Type-C.

“Through this collaboration, we’re working together to build and expand the ecosystem for the global XR industry by making it quick and easy to build mobile-based VR headsets,” said Raymond Pao, VP Product & Strategy, HTC VIVE. “Benefiting both device manufacturers and developers, this joint effort with Qualcomm Technologies serves to rapidly accelerate new VR headsets across the world and distribution points for developers through VIVEPORT.”

“At Qualcomm Technologies, we are commit5ed to transforming the XR industry and our collaboration with HTC VIVE aims to help accelerate XR adoption for consumers,” said Hugo Swart, Head of XR for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are excited to work with HTC VIVE to bring VIVEPORT to Smartphone OEMs and global operators to unleash the low latency and high speed potential of 5G and deliver unparalleled XR experiences.”

HTC VIVE and Qualcomm Technologies efforts are focused on helping Smartphone OEMs to expand their offerings and take advantage of 5G networks, providing hardware partners with access to VR content through the Wave platform and VIVEPORT app store. By optimizing their solutions, VIVE and Qualcomm Technologies are working to help enable the whole XR ecosystem to grow.

VIVE Wave is HTC’s operating system and storefront built and optimized for mobile VR requirements. Based on Android, VIVE Wave creates a native OS for VR, while pairing with a unified VIVEPORT storefront. HTC states that for device manufacturers, VIVE Wave enables new VR headsets to be built, while offering the VIVEPORT content library, which is available from day one.

VIVE Wave has been deployed across six headsets from partners such as Pico, iQiYi, Shadow Creator, and DPVR.

Image credit: HTC VIVE/Qualcomm

 

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.