Pokemon Go creator Niantic announced last night it’s collaborating with Qualcomm to build AR glasses. The announcement, made at Qualcomm’s annual tech summit in Hawaii, meant both companies will join hands to create reference hardware, software, and cloud-components for AR-based wearable devices.
The project will have two main components: Qualcomm’s newly announced 5G-supported mixed reality platform Snapdragon XR2, and Niantic’s Real World Platform, which has powered games such as Pokemon Go, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
In June, Niantic announced it’s accepting applications from developers to gain access to its Real World Platform. The company added the collaborative platform built in partnership with Qualcomm will also be a part of the dev kit slated to be released sometime next year.
Qualcomm’s XR2 platform packs several improvements in areas like video bandwidth, resolution, and CPU performance over last year’s Snapdragon XR1. The platform also supports hardware with seven concurrent cameras, and a dedicated computer vision chip for enhanced head and hand tracking.
It’s quite early to say if we’ll see folks in the street wearing glasses and throwing invisible pokeballs to catch em’ all, but one can dream, right?
You can learn more about Niantic’s developer program here.
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