Qualcomm is developing more than 40 AI-powered wearable devices, including jewelry, earbuds with cameras, pins, and watches, aiming to reshape how users interact with technology [1, 2]. The company revealed two new AI-focused products: the Snapdragon Reality Elite platform for mixed reality glasses and the START AI-Ready Toolkit designed for hardware makers building AI devices [2].
The Snapdragon Reality Elite platform delivers up to 60% boost in GPU performance, 30% in CPU, and 160% increase in neural processing unit power compared to Qualcomm’s previous extended reality (XR) platforms [2]. It supports high-resolution displays with 4.4K per eye at 90 frames per second for both standalone and tethered mixed reality glasses, enabling immersive visual experiences [2]. The platform can run language models with up to three billion parameters at 45 tokens per second, indicating advanced on-device AI processing capability [2].
Qualcomm’s START AI-Ready Toolkit provides three white-label reference designs catering to hardware makers. These designs cover devices with audio and camera functions, as well as monocular and binocular display setups, giving partners flexibility in creating AI-enabled wearable products [2].
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said, “I think there's going to be a lot of experimentation with different form factors ... The principle is something that you wear, something [that] is with you all the time, something that can see the world around you, so you have context and have the ability for you to access an agent and talk to the agent” [1]. He added, “Apps are not dead, but apps are going to change. Those agents are going to be the new app,” highlighting a shift where AI agents will replace traditional smartphone apps [1].
The company is positioning its chips as the core of a new computing platform intended to eventually succeed the smartphone era by focusing on AI-enabled wearable devices accessible at all times [1, 2]. On June 16, Qualcomm held an event to announce these developments and formally introduce the Snapdragon Reality Elite and START AI Toolkit products [1, 2].
Qualcomm plans to continue expanding AI wearable device designs and supporting hardware into the coming months as it pushes toward commercial releases.
