Motorola has introduced a 5G neckband designed for XR headsets.

Extended reality - or XR - is an umbrella term that covers augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality.

Anyway, Motorola announced that its "5G XR neckband" is meant to be used with lightweight XR headsets - such as its parent company's Lenovo ThinkReality A3 smart glasses. The neckband is basically a lanyard packing a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, a 5,000mAh battery, a touchpad, SIM card slot, speakers, gyroscope, accelerometer, and other sensors. The idea is XR headset manufacturers can rely on the 5G XR neckband to house a brawny processor, beefy battery, and other hardware, thus allowing their headsets to be comfier and lighter to wear.

In the case of the ThinkReality A3 smart glasses, although they're already lightweight, they are powered by laptops. But, if used with the neckband, they'd be even more portable. Motorola also announced it partnered with Verizon on the 5G XR neckband, which means it offers cellular connectivity and can even work with the US carrier’s mmWave 5G network.

All that said, there’s no information yet on how much the neckband will cost - let alone when and where it’ll be available to buy.

For a look at the top headsets available today, see Pocket-lint's guide: Best VR headsets: Top picks from HTC Vive, Oculus, and more