We know that Microsoft is working on new HoloLens Augmented Reality glasses. A rumor came this year that the device would use a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 chip, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.
Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 will be an Always Connected device with SoC Snapdragon 850
Although Microsoft continues to rely on a Qualcomm SoC, it won’t be the Snapdragon XR1, but the Snapdragon 850 that already powers some Always Connected devices like the Lenovo Yoga C630 and the Samsung Galaxy Book2.
Qualcomm announced last week its next-generation PC chipset, the Snapdragon 8CX, but Microsoft would pass it on. HoloLens relies heavily on its Holographic Processing Unit (HPU). The latest generation of these augmented reality glasses actually wore an Intel Atom. Now the next HoloLens will be a so-called “always connected PC”. And it will not only benefit you from the instant start functionality of ARM, but the Snapdragon 850 also has an integrated Snapdragon X20 4G LTE modem that can download at a speed of 1.2 Gbps. Although Neowin sources comment that it is very difficult for augmented reality glasses to achieve these speeds due to restrictions on antennas, the new version is also available with a download speed of 1.2 Gbps.
Currently, HoloLens have an important position for the business sector, and the 4G LTE is widely used in this area because it is more secure than public WLAN and allows users to always be connected to the Internet so they can work more easily.
At this year’s build event, Microsoft announced the “Kinect Project” for Azure and said that the sensor is the one to be used in the next HoloLens. With that, a Snapdragon 850 and an HPU with an AI coprocessor, it seems clear what the next generation HoloLens 2 will look like.