Some time ago we were told that Samsung, Google and Qualcomm were partnering up to collaborate on a VR device. Initial reports from inside the industry suggested it was going to be a competitor to the Apple Vision Pro with very few units being manufactured. Now, it seems the entire project is following in the footsteps of the much more successful Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses.
The success of the Ray-Ban smart glasses, despite the lack of a visual display, was so unexpected that Meta restructured Reality Labs: its XR (Extended Reality) division. There is now a new subdivision that will focus on wearables similar to the Ray-Ban glasses. According to Qualcomm’s CEO, this is the same position Qualcomm is taking with Google and Samsung.
But what I really expect to come out of this partnership, I want everyone that has a phone to go buy companion glasses to go along with it.
As I mentioned above, smart glasses are gaining popularity. Meta, for example, has been working on AI-powered AR smart glasses for ages and is finally almost ready to demo them. There’s never been a better time than now to jump into VR, and I am quite excited to see where the industry goes from here.