Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform during its Snapdragon Summit, but that wasn't the only new chipset that was revealed. The company also unveiled the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1, which has been built from the ground up, specifically for Augmented Reality (AR). 

Qualcomm is hoping the AR2 Gen 1 chipset will allow its partners to create thinner, sleeker AR glasses that you might actually want to wear. It's been in the making for a while and it has been designed for high performance with low power in a small form factor, whilst also offering support for Wi-Fi 7 in what's said to be a world first for AR.

During the Snapdragon Summit keynote, Qualcomm said the AR2 Gen 1 chip leverages new distributed processing architecture, with an AR processor and AR co-processor to reduce power to under 1W. It's claimed this is an "important milestone" for creating more stylish AR glasses

Could Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 chip finally mean stylish AR glasses? photo 3
Pocket-lint

Niantic took to the stage during the Snapdragon Summit to show off the evolution of a pair of AR glasses that will use the AR2 Gen 1 chipset. The design wasn't final, though there was a distinct difference in size between the original prototype and the more recent model featuring the new chip. 

Qualcomm also revealed some of the other partners it was working with, all of which are at different stages of development for new AR glasses. These partners include Lenovo, LG, Oppo, Pico, Sharp, TCL and Xiaomi.