5G and wireless communications technology firm Qualcomm recently acquired augmented reality (AR) software developers Wikitude for an undisclosed price.
Qualcomm and the Salzburg, Austria-based software firm have been active partners since 2019 after an initial partnership to optimise and update the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform.
Wikitude’s AR software development kit (SDK) provides a cross-platform solution for AR content creators to port immersive experiences to, or from, smartphone and webAR platforms.
While Qualcomm has not officially commented on the acquisition, the purchase may fit into San Diego-based firm’s current AR push.
Augmented Solutions from Qualcomm
The US firm established themselves as a leading chipset provider for 5G empowered, AR immersive hardware.
Qualcomm’s first dedicated cross reality chipset, the Snapdragon XR1, provides a powerful processing unit to deliver UltraHD, interactable immersive experiences.
Earlier this year, the global US tech giant made its mark on the AR solutions landscape after announcing a reference design for its own pair of AR smartglasses.
Known as the Snapdragon XR1 AR Smart Viewer, the upcoming AR head mounted device (HMD) is the first time Qualcomm has entered AR hardware manufacturing market.
The Snapdragon XR chipset will be powering the upcoming Smart Viewer from Qualcomm, providing high-fidelity visualisations, low-latency streaming, enhancement user feedback, and much more.
Although the solution contains powerful hardware, Qualcomm requires users to tether the Smart Viewer to a personal computer or smartphone in order to offload processing power and harness 5G connectivity for supported mobile devices.
From mobiles to headsets, Qualcomm has partners across the world such as DPVR and Lenovo, with the latter partnering with Qualcomm and Realwear to develop ThinkReality A3 smartglasses.
