A few months after announcing (jointly with Google and Samsung) a project for a new chip dedicated to virtual reality, Qualcomm is revealing the technical specifications of its latest technological advance: the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2.
The name will be familiar to fans of virtual reality: the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 is in fact the chip currently used in the Meta Quest 3. However, the latter was limited to a resolution of 3K per eye. In an industry on the verge of welcoming a potential paradigm shift with the arrival of the Apple Vision Pro, it was therefore necessary for the manufacturer to align: this new chip promises to be both more powerful in terms of pure performance, but not only that.
Qualcomm presents its Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chip
With its new chip, the aim of which is to succeed and surpass the technical performance of that currently used in the Meta Quest 3, Qualcomm above all increases the maximum possible resolution: if the latter was limited to 3K per eye, here it reaches 4.3K per eye. The idea behind this improvement is not simply limited to the race for numbers: the objective is to offer maximum image precision to facilitate user immersion. And if there is one important factor to take into account in virtual reality, it is immersion.
To accompany this upheaval on the resolution side, the new Qualcomm chip will also allow a nice 90 frames per second, for maximum fluidity: it would indeed be a shame if these beautiful images were swallowed up by terrible fluidity. And since these technical improvements cannot come without a small boost on the GPU and CPU side, the manufacturer announces an increase of 15% in the GPU frequency and 20% for the CPU.
To keep up with the times, Qualcomm is also planning the integration of artificial intelligence technologies whose aim is to support the use of 12 cameras at the same time. The objective of this technology is to offer more precise recognition of movements, but also better understanding of facial expressions. This also offers more material for VR manufacturers who would also like to offer an augmented reality proposition… like what Apple is preparing to do with its Apple Vision Pro.
A direct competitor to the Apple Vision Pro
The year 2024 will certainly be marked by the democratization of artificial intelligence, but not only that: augmented reality and virtual reality headsets should also benefit from a big boost in popularity, like almost all markets in which launches the apple brand. The Apple Vision Pro, announced with great fanfare last year, will have taken a few months to make headlines again, but if rumors are to be believed, Apple should make a big announcement about it this week. We know that the helmet should arrive this year, it remains to be seen when exactly.
One thing seems certain: this new chip from Qualcomm has the obvious aim of offering a sufficiently powerful platform to allow Apple’s competing manufacturers, namely Google or Samsung, to compete with the Apple Vision Pro in the field of augmented reality. /Virtual. It remains to be seen whether these technical efforts will have sufficient scope.
€609.98
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- New system for glasses wearers
- Integrated mixed reality
- Improved fluidity compared to its predecessor
This new Meta Quest 3 headset brings a considerable evolution to the consumer VR headset market. Its integration of mixed reality makes it an autonomous and accessible entertainment system for the price of this technology, even if we would have liked to have the same quality of passthrough in game as in recording mode.
If the improvement in graphics performance does not necessarily justify jumping on this headset if you already own its predecessor, mixed reality is a major argument. “Seeing” the external environment allows you to be immersed in the experience without completely cutting yourself off from the world.
This extension of possibilities brought by mixed reality means that this headset creates a very real divide between the models currently on the market and this new Quest 3. If we consider the price gap between the two generations of VR headsets from Meta , this new version is well worth it in our opinion. In short, Meta offers a successful virtual reality headset compatible with mixed reality, which probably represents the future of products in this sector.
This new Meta Quest 3 headset brings a considerable evolution to the consumer VR headset market. Its integration of mixed reality makes it an autonomous and accessible entertainment system for the price of this technology, even if we would have liked to have the same quality of passthrough in game as in recording mode.
If the improvement in graphics performance does not necessarily justify jumping on this headset if you already own its predecessor, mixed reality is a major argument. “Seeing” the external environment allows you to be immersed in the experience without completely cutting yourself off from the world.
This extension of possibilities brought by mixed reality means that this headset creates a very real divide between the models currently on the market and this new Quest 3. If we consider the price gap between the two generations of VR headsets from Meta , this new version is well worth it in our opinion. In short, Meta offers a successful virtual reality headset compatible with mixed reality, which probably represents the future of products in this sector.
Source : The Verge
Meta Quest 3
VR headset
release date: 10-10-2023
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