Vuzix, a manufacturer of smart glasses and augmented reality (AR) technology, recently unveiled the M400 smart glasses equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR1 platform.
Announced last year, the XR1 platform is Qualcomm’s first dedicated mobile platform for Extended Reality (XR) with a focus on delivering high-quality, cost-effective stand-alone XR devices for enterprise users who don’t require all of the premium features found in top-tier XR devices. Designed to deliver an immersive user interface (UI) experience; featuring native voice processing, motion tracking, head tracking, and more; the Snapdragon XR1 also “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,” and more.
Senior director of product management Hugo Swart, the head of XR (mixed reality) at Qualcomm Technologies, explained that the company decided to develop this device because “what was available isn’t meeting consumer needs — 46 percent of those surveyed by Technalysis Research prefer a standalone AR/VR device, but price was keeping people from accessing this technology. In total, 45 percent of survey respondents said XR devices are too expensive. We believe that XR1 is the platform that will enable mainstream XR products to become available for everyone.”
Since there’s no word on pricing yet, we can’t tell how using the XR1 will help to lower the M400’s cost.
Apart from the XR1 chip, the Vuzix M400 also features a larger memory profile, improves noise canceling over other Vuzix’s products, includes a multi-finger supported touchpad as well as a built-in GPS. Furthermore, the smart glasses will run the latest version of Android, offer USB-C connectivity, and will also be compatible with other Vuzix M-Series products.
Vuzix expects the M400 to enter volume production this summer, and also plans to release more details and pricing this spring, “as well as the commencement of an early engagement program for select developers and customers.”
