Qualcomm announces collaboration with Microsoft to expand and accelerate AR to drive metaverse ecosystem

In Augmented Reality News 

January 5, 2022 – At the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has this week announced its collaboration with Microsoft to expand and accelerate the adoption of augmented reality (AR) in both the consumer and enterprise sector.

Qualcomm stated that both companies are believers in the metaverse and they are working together across several initiatives to drive the ecosystem, including on the development of custom AR chips to enable a new wave of power efficient, lightweight AR glasses to deliver rich and immersive experiences. Furthermore, Qualcomm noted that it plans to integrate software like Microsoft Mesh and its own Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform.

According to the company, the collaboration recognizes Qualcomm’s proven spatial computing expertise and its desire to create transformative experiences for the next generation of headworn AR devices as users head into the metaverse.

“This collaboration reflects the next step in both companies’ shared commitment to XR and the metaverse,” said Hugo Swart, Vice President and General Manager of XR at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Technologies’ core XR strategy has always been delivering the most cutting-edge technology, purpose-built XR chipsets and enabling the ecosystem with our software platforms and hardware reference designs. We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to help expand and scale the adoption of AR hardware and software across the entire industry.”

“Our goal is to inspire and empower others to collectively work to develop the metaverse future – a future that is grounded in trust and innovation,” said Rubén Caballero, Corporate Vice President, Mixed Reality at Microsoft. “With services like Microsoft Mesh, we are committed to delivering the safest and most comprehensive set of capabilities to power metaverses that blend the physical and digital worlds, ultimately delivering a shared sense of presence across devices. We look forward to working with Qualcomm Technologies to help the entire ecosystem unlock the promise of the metaverse.”

For more information on Qualcomm and its technologies to help power augmented reality devices and the metaverse, please visit the company’s website.

Image credit: Qualcomm Technologies / Microsoft

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.