Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, today at Augmented World Expo (AWE), celebrates the milestone of partnering with global operators, smartphone OEMs and XR viewer manufacturers to deliver XR viewers to consumers and enterprises within the next year. Since Qualcomm Technologies' device category introduction of XR viewers tethered to 5G smartphones, fifteen global operators including China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, EE, KDDI, KT, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, SoftBank, Telefonica, Verizon and Vodafone have shared plans to sample and commercialize XR viewers to provide immersive, never-before-experiences over 5G.

Lightweight, head-worn devices that connect to a smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or 865 Mobile Platforms, XR viewers are glasses tethered to a 5G-enabled smartphone via USB-C cable. XR viewers unlock a new generation of immersive experiences using 5G-enabled smartphones that provide high bandwidth and low latency which is essential for high-quality XR. Consumers' favorite smartphone applications can become augmented reality (AR) experiences in front of their eyes or workplace meetings can be revolutionized through holographic telepresence with virtual collaboration platforms, as XR and 5G come together to transform how the world connects, communicates and consumes content.Through the Qualcomm XR Optimized Certification Program, Qualcomm Technologies tests the performance and validates compatibility between the XR viewer and smartphones to help ensure a seamless user experience. There are two certifications, one for smartphone and one for the XR viewer to allow the OEMs (both smartphone and viewers) to verify optimization between multiple phones and multiple viewers without requiring them to conduct one-on-one optimization. The Qualcomm XR Optimized Certification Program includes:

• Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) headtracking performance on the viewer and smartphone
• Display calibration validation on the viewer
• Motion to photon latency validation on the viewer and smartphone
• Power and thermal test on the viewer and smartphone
• Interoperability between the viewer and smartphone

Multiple XR viewer manufacturers are in development including 3Glasses, iQIYI, Nreal, OPPO, Panasonic, Pico and Shadow Creator are going through the certification process to be able to quickly deploy with Snapdragon-powered devices in the coming months. Both smartphones and XR viewers can use the Qualcomm XR Optimized badge from Qualcomm Technologies, which indicate compatibility and performance to consumers and users. Smartphone OEMs that plan to provide new XR experiences with their 5G-enabled smartphones with viewers include ASUS, Black Shark, OnePlus, OPPO, Smartisan, vivo, ZTE, with others to come.

With the global expansion of 5G, the XR ecosystem is prepared to unite superior cellular connectivity with quality hardware and premium XR. Experiences can be scaled on a global level, both in and out of the home, and within the next year we hope everyone can experience a new reality.