What you need to know
- Qualcomm Technologies announced its newest Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 chipset during the Meta Connect 2022 event today.
- The chip boasts 50% higher sustained power and 30% improved thermal performance over the previous Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chipset.
- Multiple AR and VR manufacturers have committed to use the new platform with the Meta Quest Pro being the first.
Qualcomm Technologies announced the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, its latest platform to bring better power and thermal improvements for future mixed and virtual reality devices.
The company says the new chipset has "50% higher sustained power and 30% improved thermal performance" over the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1, which is currently used in many AR and VR devices. It also introduces a new image processing pipeline that can achieve less than 10ms latency.
The new improvements will help mixed reality headsets process hand, head, or controller motion tracking alongside room mapping better. The company says multiple manufacturers have committed to power their upcoming devices with the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, including the recently announced Meta Quest Pro.
Meta had announced its latest VR headset at Meta Connect 2022 today, and the Meta Quest Pro will be the first to use the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1.
“Today we are thrilled to see our longstanding partner, Meta, launch Meta Quest Pro which is another leap forward in VR hardware and helping to build a fully-realized metaverse,” said Hugo Swart, Qualcomm Technologies vice president and GM of XR. “We worked closely with Meta on the platform requirements to deliver this new premium-tier Snapdragon XR2+ and we know it will help transform immersive experiences for users around the world.”
This is the fourth collaboration between Meta and Qualcomm with the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 powering the headset's 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and 10 high-res sensors. The Snapdragon 662 chipset, first unveiled in 2020, will also be used in the Meta Quest Touch Pro controllers.
