Qualcomm's new 5G phone chips can power your AR and VR glasses



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The nReal mixed reality glasses are one of the first devices compatible with Qualcomm's 5G phones.

Sarah Tew / CNET

The next wave of Qualcomm 5G phones powered by Snapdragon 855 They have a clever trick: they can power the VR and AR headsets via USB-C. This could mean that we are not only looking for a lighter set of helmets, but also a lot more affordable.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​Qualcomm announced a new initiative to connect 5G phones to a new wave of headsets. He is currently planning a certification program and a branded sticker to spark interest in small plug-in headsets. Is that what the HTC Vive Cosmos will become? We do not know yet. But a new Acer VR headset called Acer Viewer and the nReal Light, a compact pair of mixed reality glasses, are the first two products compatible with a non-advertised Pico headset.

Qualcomm also announced that the first compatible phones will be manufactured by Xiaomi, HTC, OnePlus, Oppo, Asus and Vivo. Cellular operators who currently support the Qualcomm initiative include Sprint, LG U +, Tim, KDDI, SK Telecom, Swisscom and KT.

XR = AR, VR

Qualcomm plans to create its own "XR Optimized" badge to indicate which phones and headsets will work together. The company also wants to make reference to the world of AR and VR helmets as "XR". Although this term is accepted for what is also called "mixed reality", it is totally confusing for anyone outside the industry.

the Nreal glasses with mixed reality debuted at CES 2019 and looked more like ordinary glasses than competitors such as Magic jump a. NReal glasses connected to a housing powered by Snapdragon 845 at CES, but Qualcomm claims that the 855 processor has enough computer vision and graphics power to meet the needs of a headset without any lag. This could mean that future helmets will be smaller and cost much less. The USB-C connected Rokia Aurora glasses could allude to what is coming.

Snapdragon 855 phones will not work with these new headsets immediately. They will need USB-C to handle the video output (DisplayPort), which not all phones do. They will also need special software from Qualcomm, which will certify phones for compatibility.

The helmets of Acer and nReal will be presented in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. We will follow up with practical impressions of Spain.

(Originally released at 4 pm ET)

Mobile World Congress 2019

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