Technologies

Qualcomm’s New AR Chips Point to a New Generation of Smart Glasses

The less power-hungry chips support Wi-Fi 7 and eye tracking. They’re expected to arrive in glasses between 2023 and 2025.

Amid a recent uptick in VR headsets, Qualcomm’s latest chip announcement hints that the next product wave could be AR glasses. At the company’s recent chip-focused event, the newest Snapdragon phone processors were announced, along with a brand-new line of AR glasses-optimized chips that point to a next wave of advanced smartglasses expected to arrive between 2023 and 2025, with possible features including eye tracking, hand tracking and wireless streaming to phones or from the cloud.

The Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 is a different type of platform than the company’s top-end XR2 processor, which is already in standalone VR headsets like the Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4. The AR2 focuses more on camera and sensor-based processing than on graphics, aiming to improve battery life on smaller glasses. The design is split into three co-processors, which are meant to live in each arm of a pair of smartglasses and also above the bridge. It’s meant to cut down on wires and reduce overheating on future glasses designs.

Glasses using the AR2 Gen 1 may be a lot faster at using cameras for scanning and depth sensing: Qualcomm is promising faster AI for things like object recognition and hand tracking than even the XR2 chip found on headsets such as the Quest 2, but using half as much power as the XR2 chip. There’s nowhere to hide a big battery on a normal-ish pair of glasses, which is why the AR2 Gen 1 aims to be efficient in ways that are reminiscent of the needs of wearables like smartwatches.

The AR2 Gen 1 chip won’t be used for traditional VR headsets. According to Qualcomm, the resolution and field of view in AR glasses using these new chips won’t be as good as what current VR is capable of. Existing AR glasses and headsets tend to have smaller viewing areas and rely on occasional pop-up graphics, versus the expansive full-field graphics and displays VR needs.

Qualcomm is leaning heavily on phones, computers and the cloud to do a lot of the heavy lifting for these future glasses. The chipset includes Wi-Fi 7, and a range of phones running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips and the Snapdragon Spaces software platform could be used to wirelessly process AR graphics for these glasses. Essentially they’re wearable peripherals, although the glasses could do some things on their own, too.

Eye tracking on the glasses comes with support for iris authentication, which is handled on-glasses with a dedicated security chip. How that gets used by other manufacturers, however, remains to be seen.

Qualcomm’s already announced a wave of familiar tech names that are onboard to make AR glasses with the AR2 chip, including Lenovo, LG, Niantic, NReal, Oppo, Pico, NTT Qonoq, Rokid, Sharp, TCL, Vuzix and Mi. Microsoft and Adobe are also working on making their software platforms cross-compatible, which mirrors recent partnership news with Meta earlier this year.

Partnerships are necessary, especially for devices like smart glasses that are trying to be useful tools in a world of already well-connected phones, computers, wearables and smart home gear. Microsoft has already announced a partnership with Qualcomm on future AR glasses chips earlier this year, and the AR2 Gen 1 looks like it’ll be a part of that evolution beyond the expensive, business-focused HoloLens 2.

Qualcomm previously worked on chips for existing AR headsets and smart glasses, including the NReal Light, Lenovo’s ThinkReality A3 and Meta’s Ray-Ban Stories. However, Qualcomm’s head of XR, Hugo Swart, indicated in a briefing with reporters that current efforts haven’t been good enough at running long enough on a single battery charge to be useful. (Battery life on nearly all existing VR and AR headsets tends to be under 2 hours at best.)

Dreams of the metaverse are, for the moment, held back equally by hardware and software. While VR headsets are slowly adding AR-like features using passthrough cameras, like in the Meta Quest Pro, there aren’t any all-day AR glasses that are actually any good, although some headsets like the Magic Leap 2 are trying to get closer to being useful for practical business uses. Perhaps Meta, which has been promising its own AR glasses for years, will lean on the AR2 Gen 1 as well for a future product.

There’s nothing available yet that resembles the eyeglass tech sci-fi writers have been dreaming of for decades. Qualcomm’s new chips may not lead to perfect AR glasses, but these chips may lead to improved, wireless glasses of the type that haven’t existed previously. Maybe this wave of AR2 Gen 1-enabled glasses could be the start of the true AR eyewear we’ve been waiting for.

Technologies

Apple Update Frees Families From Sharing Only 1 Payment Option

With the latest OS updates, Apple users on Family Sharing will be able to select their own payment options for new purchases.

Finally, a little financial flexibility is coming to Apple’s Family Sharing plan. Apple’s iOS 26.4 update won’t be available to all iPhone users until March 25, but the release notes include a welcome change. Members of a family group will no longer be bound to only one payment option.

An Apple representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

You can see the change in Apple’s new payment details. In the past, Family Sharing allowed you to add people to one group (up to six) so they could share their purchased content. But with that Purchase Sharing feature turned on, everyone in the group was required to use the single payment method chosen by the family organizer.

This caused many headaches. Family organizers rarely want to be asked for permission or to vet purchases for members they already trust. Some family members resorted to using Venmo to pay each other back, or to buying Apple gift cards and loading them into the account to pay that way.

iOS 26.4 is removing that hassle.

Soon, Adult family members can be part of Family Sharing and use the individual payment methods they have saved, perhaps to their Apple Wallet, without needing any workarounds.

Note that this applies only to adult members, so you can still monitor kids’ purchases.

The change to payment methods is just one of the changes Apple is bringing to iOS. Other updates include the ability to change your iPhone’s Liquid Glass design and to remove your alarm slider.

Technologies

Garmin Smartwatch Users Can Now Make Calls and Send Texts Through WhatsApp

If you own a Garmin smartwatch, you’ll now be able to keep up with your WhatsApp messages even while out on a run.

If you own a Garmin smartwatch, you can now send texts and make calls via WhatsApp. Garmin announced on Tuesday that WhatsApp is now available for free download from its Connect IQ store. The Meta-owned app will be available for select Garmin Fenix, Forerunner, Venus and Vívoactive smartwatches. This integration makes WhatsApp the only third-party messaging app available on Garmin smartwatches.

Garmin is one of CNET’s leading makers of fitness trackers among runners and for sleep tracking. CNET recently tested a group of smartwatches to see which is the most accurate, and the Garmin Venu 4 earned the top honor for elite-level heart rate tracking on Android phones.

«By bringing a global messaging brand like WhatsApp to select Garmin smartwatches, we’re giving customers another meaningful way to stay connected — whether they’re training, exploring or simply on the move,» Susan Lyman, Garmin’s vice president of consumer sales and marketing, said in a statement.

Garmin smartwatch users will be able to read and respond to messages with the built-in keyboard on their watch screens, view incoming calls and accept or decline them, and view their chat history up to 10 messages.

The Kansas-based company uses end-to-end encryption to protect messages shared through the device.

Technologies

Tim Cook Riffs on Retirement Rumors, AI, Phone Addiction and Trump

The Apple CEO discussed a range of topics on Good Morning America.

Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere just yet — not during Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not with the company preparing to introduce its first foldable phone, not while the tech giant is trying to figure out how to beat the AI race.

In a sit-down interview with Good Morning America host and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this week, Cook, who turned 65 in November, said there was no truth to the rumors that he is considering retiring from Apple. He became CEO of the company in 2011, 13 years after joining from Compaq.

«I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since,» Cook told Strahan. «We’ve had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and hopefully I can bring out the best in them.»

Strahan interviewed Cook during the Apple CEO’s visit to Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Harlem, where students use Apple technology through the company’s partnership with the nonprofit Save the Music.

Speculation about Cook stepping down has been circulating since last November, when the Financial Times cited unnamed sources saying that Apple was preparing to usher in a new CEO «as soon as next year.» Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman threw water on that report, saying he «would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT.»

During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s revenue has nearly quadrupled, with the tech giant adding dozens of new iPhone models, several more iPads, and updated Apple Watches and AirPods. This year, Apple has launched several new products, including the MacBook Neo, which at $599 has disrupted the budget laptop market. The company’s first foldable phone could come later this year.

Touch some grass

The GMA interview was short but wide-ranging, including Cook’s thoughts on how much people use their iPhones. Many studies estimate that people across most generations spend at least 4 hours a day on their phones, with millennials and Gen Z spending 5 to 6 hours.

When asked what he worries about most regarding Apple products’ impact on society, Cook weighed in, telling Strahan he doesn’t want people using iPhones «too much.»

«I don’t want people looking at the smartphone more than they’re looking in someone’s eyes,» Cook said, «because if they’re just scrolling endlessly, this is not the way you want to spend your day. Go out and spend it in nature.»

More on Apple from CNET:

AI and privacy

Cook told Strahan that AI «can be so positive,» but his response when asked whether he was «worried» about it was fairly flat.

«Technology doesn’t want to be good, and it doesn’t want to be bad,» Cook said. «It’s in the hands of the user and the hands of the inventor.»

Strahan questioned how much of iPhone users’ private lives are feeding Apple’s AI learning machine. Cook told him that because the smartphone is encrypted, Apple doesn’t have access to it. He went on to say: «When we can’t answer a question on your device, we send it to something called private cloud compute, which is essentially a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.»

On its website, Apple says that it «does not use our users’ private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models.»

To date, Apple has been cautious in diving into the AI scrum. While Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are spending nearly $700 billion combined on AI tech this year, Apple is «only» investing $14 billion.

Trump and tariffs

Cook has been criticized for being too cozy with the Trump administration: donating $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration; giving him a 24-karat gold plaque; and attending a White House screening of Melania, a film about the First Lady.

The Apple CEO told Strahan that he’s «not a political person» on either side.

«I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,» Cook said. «So, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.»

One of those policies has been tariffs, which Trump has imposed on many nations to varying degrees during his second term in office, purportedly to pressure companies to shift their manufacturing to the US. The president has largely spared Apple, which promised to invest $600 billion over four years to make more products in the US.

Cook told Strahan that the glass for the front and back of an iPhone will come out of Kentucky by the end of the year, and that 100 million chip engines will be manufactured in Arizona this year. He also noted that 20 billion semiconductors will be made in the US. «We’re a very proud American company, and we want to do as much here as we can,» Cook said.