Qualcomm plans to seed a new era of on-device AI with over 40 wearable prototypes and turnkey tools that speed manufacturers to market.
Qualcomm’s chief executive officer Cristiano Amon said on Tuesday that the company is working on more than 40 wearable devices with artificial intelligence – from jewelry and camera-equipped earbuds to cufflinks and watches – to demonstrate the chipmaker’s serious intent to create a future computing platform that could extend beyond the smartphone.
With this concept, Qualcomm unveils two new products: the Snapdragon Reality Elite platform for eyewear with virtual and mixed reality, designed for more powerful onboard AI, and START – Scalable Turnkey AI-Ready Toolkit, a kit of hardware modules and software stack for AI devices, starting with smart glasses.
Compared with the previous XR platform Snapdragon Reality Elite promises GPU performance up to 60%, CPU up to 30% and NPU up to 160%. While percentage increases are difficult to measure precisely from technical specs, Qualcomm notes a specific point known to them: the platform is capable of running a 3-billion-parameter language model at a speed of 45 tokens per second – fast enough for dynamic interactions with AI. It also highlights improved head and hand tracking and increased see-through clarity through the lenses.
Snapdragon Reality Elite supports a per-eye resolution of 4.4K at 90 frames per second – a noticeable rise compared with XR2+ Gen 2 (4.3K per eye). The higher the resolution and frame rate, the crisper and smoother the image, which matters for reducing motion blur and eye strain during extended headset use.
Qualcomm says the platform is intended for two device types: autonomous VST headsets, which overlay digital content on live-world imagery, and lightweight OST glasses with a transparent image, which directly integrate digital images into your field of view. Among the first devices to be built on it are XREAL Project Aura, unveiled at Google I/O earlier this year, and a future device from Play for Dream.
START is a bundle of AR kit, software stack, accompanying applications, and white-label technology designed to accelerate market entry for equipment manufacturers. As part of the program, three reference designs are offered: audio + camera, similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban; a monocular display; and a binocular display.
Eyewear makers Inspecs and O’Neill – a TitanFlex division – will be among the first-wave partners in the white-label program. Qualcomm said START will expand beyond smart glasses and later support other form factors.
Amid comments from Amon, provided to CNBC, the strategic sense of both announcements is revealed. He stressed that rising demand from device makers for real-world data to power AI agents will spur a new wave of startups with unconventional form factors, with significant implications for traditional smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung.
I think there will be a lot of experimentation with different form factors. We currently have more than 40 designs of such devices, and I tell you, the form-factor types are very, very broad.
– Cristiano Amon
The principle is that this is what you wear, something you carry with you all the time, something that can see the world around you, so you have context and the ability to access the agent and interact with it.
– Cristiano Amon
Thus, Qualcomm aims to serve as the foundational silicon layer for what comes after the smartphone. The START white-label program is designed to lower entry barriers for new market participants and accelerate the commercialization of new wearable computing devices.
Looking ahead, the company aims to shift emphasis from mobile phones to integrated systems where artificial intelligence runs directly on the device, reducing the need for cloud services. Such steps could radically change the landscape of wearable technology and human–machine interaction.
Qualcomm Strategy: Wearables as the Future Base Layer of Computing
With Snapdragon Reality Elite and START, Qualcomm aims to cement its position as the primary silicon foundation for new form factors that replace the smartphone, with a focus on autonomy, data privacy, and the speed of AI agent responses.
In conclusion, the company demonstrates a steady course: from wearable devices with cameras and smart glasses to integrated modules that ease manufacturers’ entry into AI-edge solutions. It is a signal to the market: Qualcomm aims to be the entry point between the user and the future digital world where artificial intelligence runs continuously, right on wearable devices.
In perspective, the company aims to shift the focus from mobile phones to integrated systems where artificial intelligence lives on the device itself and reduces reliance on cloud services, which could define the future dynamic of wearable technology and human–machine interaction in the coming years.
