Qualcomm has announced at IFA 2022 two collaboration agreements. The first of them, with Bosethe iconic firm of audio products. The second, with goalthe parent company of Facebook, which is currently particularly focused on creating the metaverse.
The agreement between Bose and Qualcomm means that the next products of the audio company will have the Qualcomm S5 SoC, presented at the beginning of the year. This chip promises to improve audio quality – it even promises audio lossless wirelessly–, connectivity and even latency, a key factor in areas such as gaming.
The Qualcomm S5 too opens the door to better active noise cancellation –thanks to the third generation of Qualcomm Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation– and a better treatment of the signal captured by the microphones –which translates into clearer audio–. All this, moreover, with a minimum energy consumption to offer the best possible autonomy and on the most recent Bluetooth standards: Bluetooth 5.3 and Bluetooth LE.
“Our engineers are working together all the time,” said Lila Snyder, CEO of Bose, during the key note opening ceremony of IFA 2022, signaling the closeness with which both companies plan to work to develop new products.
The agreement with Meta, on the other hand, implies that Qualcomm will be the main partner of the company for the development of new VR / AR products. The two companies had previously collaborated on products such as the Meta Quest 2, but “this agreement solidifies our mutual commitment to deliver multiple generations of premium devices and experiences powered by custom VR platforms for years to come.”
“We are working with Qualcomm on custom virtual reality chips – powered by the Snapdragon XR platform and technology – for future Quest products,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta. “Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality presents novel, multidimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factors. These chips will help us continue to push virtual reality to its limits and deliver incredible experiences.”
Qualcomm is widely recognized for its chips for mobile phones, but in recent years they have been making their way into more and more segments: connected cars, headsets, virtual reality, laptops… The agreements announced with both Bose and Meta reflect that expansion into new categories.