Vuzix announced its next generation AR smartglasses, the M400, one of the first products made commercially available using the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Vuzix has been working to develop the first Snapdragon XR1-based enterprise smart glasses since the company started collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies in May 2018.
“Snapdragon XR1 is the first dedicated XR platform from Qualcomm Technologies targeted to the class of devices that Vuzix has mastered. Vuzix’ focus on wearability, experience, and form factor combined with XR1 will drive smart glasses to the next level,” said Hugo Swart, head of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Technologies is a strong believer in the smart glasses segment for the enterprise. We look forward to seeing our collaboration with Vuzix help scale adoption in enterprises and become a mainstream device to help increase employee productivity in the new era of AI and immersive computing.”
The Snapdragon XR1 allows for power efficient on-device processing of vision-based machine learning algorithms that can help with key Augmented Reality (AR) use cases like superior pose prediction, object classification, etc. The Snapdragon XR1 platform was also designed to deliver an immersive User Interface (UI) experience, with features such as native voice processing, motion tracking, head tracking and more, according to a press release.
“The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses were designed to be best in class in enterprise and come equipped with Qualcomm’s XR1 processor; larger memory profile; better noise cancelling; a multifinger supported touchpad, built-in GPS and more. The M400 with the XR1 processor is, by almost every measure, an order of magnitude faster than current solutions on the market. The performance improvements also mean that for less processor intensive applications power consumption is expected to also be much less. Qualcomm Technologies has been a great partner for Vuzix and we look forward to expanding our relationship to support the burgeoning AR smart glasses market,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.
Vuzix will start producing the glasses in summer 2019, and in spring the company will provide further details and pricing. The smartglasses will be physically, mechanically and for most software 100% compatible with Vuzix’ existing M-Series products, said the company.
