The metaverse is a series of virtual reality experiences that combine physical and digital elements. Much of the discussion has been focused on virtual reality experiences using a VR headset. Qualcomm will unveil its Snapdragon SpacesXR Developer Platform today at Augmented World Expo. This kit allows developers to expand existing apps or create new ones that take advantage of AR headsets you wear on your head.
Although today's announcement does not mention new hardware, Qualcomm has lined up important partners to help it realize the mixed reality future it's been working towards for the past decade. These include Niantic, which recently announced its Lightship platform for "real world metaverse apps," and hardware OEMs such as Motorola, Oppo and Xiaomi. The ThinkReality A3 glasses by Lenovo, based on Qualcomm’s XR1 Smart Viewer design, will be among the first to "commercialize Snapdragon Spaces" next year. T-Mobile will be the "lead 5G launch Partner" and will collaborate with developers and startups through its existing T-Mobile Accelerator program.
Snapdragon Spaces is designed to support an open and cross-device ecosystem. It has APIs that can be used on any platform, so software developers can create AR glasses or full AR headsets more similar to Microsoft's HoloLens. Qualcomm claims that this is the "first headworn AR platform optimized to AR Glasses tethered with smartphones with an OpenXR conformant runningtime." It also supports the familiar developer tools Unreal Engine 4 or Unity.
The tool is now available to "selected" developers such as NZXT and Holo One. Access will be available to everyone in the coming year, with tools for positional tracking and hand tracking, image recognition, tracking, and tracking. Qualcomm announced that it acquired assets from HINS SAS, Clay AIR and its subsidiary Clay AIR for hand tracking, gesture recognition, and a partnership with Wikitude for AR development platform's 150,000 developers.
As 5G is more widely available on mobile devices, many of which are powered with Qualcomm hardware, the idea behind AR as a second screen option for apps will become widespread. AR tracks can overlay your living space for an Anki Drive-like experience, or a floating smartwatch interface that only you see. Already, there are augmented reality experiences for mobile devices that allow you to shop for furniture and see it in your living room. But the idea behind this project is to make them easier to build, port from one platform to another, and then be ready to use in headsets.
