[Maui, Hawaii = DigitalToday reporter Dae-geon Seok] Qualcomm has positioned smart glasses as the top priority business in its Snapdragon portfolio. It judged that for an agent to deliver answers tailored to a user, it needs the context of what the user sees and hears, and glasses worn on the face all the time can gather that context most closely.

Ziad Asghar (지아드 아스가르), Qualcomm senior vice president and head of XR, wearables and personal AI, said at the Snapdragon Summit personal AI roundtable held in Maui, Hawaii, on Sept. 24 local time that "an agent has to understand who asked the question, what they were looking at then, whether they are at home or in the office, whether they are walking or trying to hail a taxi." He said that context comes from devices such as smart glasses, pins and pendants, and smartwatches.

He said the frequency of agent use also varies depending on the device form factor. Citing a case from one customer, Asghar said a user who called an agent twice a day on a smartphone called it 13 times on glasses, adding that the data is early but offers a sense of direction. He explained that users can call an agent immediately while walking or on the move without taking a smartphone out of their pocket.

Asghar assessed the current smart glasses market as being at the same stage as the smartphone market 15 years ago when the shift from Symbian to Android was taking place. "Companies that invested in new mobile phones at the time became today's leading companies," he said. "Companies that invest in glasses now also have the potential to become future leaders in this field." He also said there are many unexplored areas, such as healthcare, enterprise, industry and education, leaving significant room for innovation.

◆Qualcomm: Nearly 40 new devices; cloud companies and startups also joining

Qualcomm is prioritising extending the leadership it built in smartphones to new form factors. Referring to nearly 40 new devices recently mentioned by Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Asghar said cloud companies in North America and China that are not traditional customers, along with many startups seeking to create new experiences, are coming in. He stressed that glasses cannot be made by simply transferring smartphone IP and technology, and must be redesigned to match power and user experience.

Qualcomm has studied recognition technologies such as hand tracking and eye tracking for more than 10 years, and has implemented these algorithms in silicon to run at very low power. He said this forms the basis of an interface that lets users control devices with gestures as well as voice, such as rejecting an incoming call with a hand motion.

Asghar said AI glasses will not replace smartphones. He said that just as PCs remained after smartphones emerged, only some use cases will shift to glasses, and individuals will use a watch, glasses, earbuds and a pendant in addition to a smartphone.

Asghar said people handle email more on smartphones than on PCs, but still go back to PCs to write long emails. He said smartphones and personal AI devices will coexist. With people using a watch, glasses, earbuds and a pendant in addition to a smartphone, he said the potential of the sector lies in the fact that each person will have more than one device.

◆Qualcomm developing multiple tiers of next-generation platforms for glasses: value needs AI experience to keep improving

He said market growth will be resolved over time. He said some companies making AI glasses are building glasses for the first time and are in the process of learning that glasses are fashion accessories. "If everyone in this room wore the same glasses, it would not work," Asghar said. "Because glasses are fashion accessories, you must be able to choose the size, colour and shape. They must become light enough to wear all day, and the AI experience must also keep improving."

To that end, Qualcomm is also working with partners to make glasses light enough to wear all day. Asghar said that just as early mobile phones established themselves as devices that did more than make calls, glasses will need continuously improving AI experiences to be recognised for their value.

Qualcomm currently supplies separate platforms by performance tier. It offers the Snapdragon Sound line for camera-less audio glasses and Snapdragon AR1 for glasses with a camera. Glasses with a display in one lens or both lenses can also be built with AR1, and fully immersive AR glasses use Snapdragon AR2. "We are providing performance at every stage so customers can decide for themselves exactly what kind of device they want to make," Asghar said.