Qualcomm wants to be the chip inside whatever replaces your smartphone, and it just announced two products toward that end

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said Tuesday that the company is working on over 40 different AI wearable devices — including jewelry, earbuds with cameras, pins, and watches — a sign of how aggressively the chipmaker is betting that the next major computing platform won’t be a phone. 高通首席执行官克里斯蒂亚诺·阿蒙（Cristiano Amon）周二表示，该公司目前正在研发 40 多种不同的 AI 可穿戴设备，包括珠宝、带摄像头的耳机、胸针和手表。这表明这家芯片制造商正积极押注下一个主要的计算平台将不再是手机。

To power that vision, Qualcomm is announcing two new offerings: a platform called Snapdragon Reality Elite for mixed-reality glasses, designed to run more powerful on-device AI, and the Scalable Turnkey AI-Ready Toolkit (START), a combination of hardware modules and a software stack for AI devices, starting with smart glasses. 为了实现这一愿景，高通宣布了两项新产品：一个是名为“骁龙 Reality Elite”（Snapdragon Reality Elite）的混合现实眼镜平台，旨在运行更强大的端侧 AI；另一个是“可扩展交钥匙 AI 就绪工具包”（START），这是一套针对 AI 设备（以智能眼镜为起点）的硬件模块与软件栈组合。

Compared to its previous XR platform, the new Snapdragon Reality Elite delivers improvements of up to 60% in GPU performance, up to 30% in CPU performance, and up to 160% in NPU performance, according to the company. Percentage gains in chip specs can be hard to contextualize, but Qualcomm offers one concrete data point, saying the platform can run a 3-billion-parameter language model at 45 tokens per second — fast enough for quick, responsive AI interactions. 据高通公司称，与之前的 XR 平台相比，全新的骁龙 Reality Elite 在 GPU 性能上提升了高达 60%，CPU 性能提升了高达 30%，NPU 性能提升了高达 160%。芯片规格的百分比增长往往难以直观理解，但高通提供了一个具体的数据点：该平台能够以每秒 45 个 token 的速度运行一个 30 亿参数的语言模型，这足以实现快速、灵敏的 AI 交互。

Qualcomm says the chip will also enable better head and hand tracking, along with improved see-through capabilities. The Snapdragon Reality Elite supports 4.4K per-eye resolution at 90 fps, a modest bump from the XR2+ Gen 2’s 4.3K per-eye resolution. (The higher the per-eye resolution and frame rate, the sharper and smoother the visual experience, which matters most for reducing the motion sickness and eye strain that’ve historically made extended headset use uncomfortable.) 高通表示，该芯片还将实现更好的头部和手部追踪，以及改进的透视（see-through）功能。骁龙 Reality Elite 支持单眼 4.4K 分辨率和 90fps 帧率，较 XR2+ Gen 2 的单眼 4.3K 分辨率有小幅提升。（单眼分辨率和帧率越高，视觉体验就越清晰流畅，这对减少长期以来导致头显设备长时间佩戴不适的晕动症和眼部疲劳至关重要。）

Qualcomm says the platform is designed to power two types of devices: stand-alone video-see-through (VST) headsets, which layer digital content over a camera feed of the real world, and lightweight, tethered optical-see-through (OST) glasses, which blend digital imagery directly into your field of view. Among the first devices to use it: XREAL Project Aura, shown at Google I/O earlier this year, and an upcoming device from Play for Dream. 高通表示，该平台旨在为两类设备提供动力：一是独立式视频透视（VST）头显，将数字内容叠加在现实世界的摄像头画面上；二是轻量级、有线连接的光学透视（OST）眼镜，将数字图像直接融合到用户的视野中。首批使用该平台的设备包括：今年早些时候在 Google I/O 上展示的 XREAL Project Aura，以及 Play for Dream 即将推出的一款设备。

START, meanwhile, consists of an AR chip, a software platform, companion apps, and a white-label program aimed at helping hardware makers get to market faster. Through the white label program, the company is offering three reference designs: an audio + camera setup similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, a monocular display, and a binocular display. Eyewear manufacturers Inspecs and O’Neill — owned by TitanFlex — will be among the first partners in the white label program. Qualcomm said START will expand beyond smart glasses to support other form factors in the future. 与此同时，START 包含一颗 AR 芯片、一个软件平台、配套应用程序以及一个旨在帮助硬件制造商更快进入市场的白标（white-label）计划。通过该白标计划，高通提供了三种参考设计：类似于 Meta Ray-Ban 智能眼镜的音频+摄像头组合、单目显示器以及双目显示器。眼镜制造商 Inspecs 和 TitanFlex 旗下的 O’Neill 将成为该白标计划的首批合作伙伴。高通表示，未来 START 将扩展到智能眼镜之外，支持更多其他形态的设备。

Amon’s comments, made to CNBC, flesh out the strategic logic behind both announcements. He argued that as companies seek to gather more real-world data from users to power their AI agents, a new wave of hardware startups building novel form factors will emerge, with major implications for established smartphone players like Apple and Samsung. 阿蒙在接受 CNBC 采访时的评论，进一步阐述了这两项公告背后的战略逻辑。他认为，随着企业寻求从用户那里收集更多现实世界的数据来驱动其 AI 智能体，将会涌现出一波构建新型硬件形态的初创公司，这对苹果和三星等老牌智能手机厂商将产生重大影响。

“I think there’s going to be a lot of experimentation with different form factors,” Amon said. “Right now, we have over 40 designs of those devices, and I’m telling you, the types of form factors are very, very broad.” He added, “The principle is something that you wear, something [that] is with you all the time, something that can see the world around you, so you have context and have the ability for you to access an agent and talk to the agent.” “我认为未来会有很多关于不同硬件形态的实验，”阿蒙说道，“目前我们已经有了 40 多种此类设备的设计，我可以告诉你，这些形态的种类非常、非常广泛。”他补充道，“其核心原则是：它是你佩戴的东西，是你时刻随身携带的东西，是能够观察周围世界的东西，这样你就能获得环境感知，并有能力访问智能体并与之对话。”

To that end, Qualcomm is explicitly positioning itself as the foundational silicon layer for whatever comes after the smartphone. START’s white-label program, in particular, is designed to lower the barrier for new entrants. 为此，高通明确将自己定位为“后智能手机时代”的基础芯片层。特别是 START 的白标计划，旨在降低新进入者的门槛。