The Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chipset from Qualcomm, which also powered the Quest 2, Pico 4, and Vive XR Elite, was already a key component of standalone VR headsets.
The sequel, which is built on the high-end smartphone chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, was unveiled at the same time as Meta Quest 3. It is tailored for use in virtual reality and mixed reality. The Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 offers numerous enhancements in terms of performance, power efficiency, and functionality and is produced on a 4 nm rather than a 7 nm production node.
The chipset was created in close collaboration with Meta, but it will also soon be found in headsets made by other companies.
The improvements of the Snapdragon XR 2 Gen 2 at a glance:
In addition to details on new or upgraded capabilities, Qualcomm and Meta have released a number of comparative data points, which I have assembled for you below:
Compared to the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1, the new GPU has a 50 percent higher power efficiency and up to 2.5x higher peak performance.
More than 33% more processing power has been added to the CPU.
In comparison to the previous generation chipset, the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) offers up to 8 times greater AI performance.
Up to 3K by 3K resolution displays, dynamic foveated rendering, space warp, and game super resolution are all supported by the Snapdragon XR 2 Gen 2.
The Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 can process data from up to 10 cameras on the sensor side.
With an ultra-low latency of 12 ms, the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 offers passthrough, depending on numerous elements including resolution and other sensor usage.
The chipset also supports Bluetooth 5.3 and 5.2, Wi-Fi 7 and 6E, and other wireless technologies.
Assisting and accelerating important headset operations like room tracking, passthrough, spacewarp, and super resolution is also done by specialized sections of the SOC. This minimizes latency and battery consumption while offloading the CPU and GPU.
Upgraded graphics in Meta Quest thanks to a new chipset:
Early graphics comparisons between Quest 3 and Quest 2 demonstrate how the performance improvements apply to VR games. Studios can use the additional speed to render textures with greater quality, enhance lighting and shadow effects, or simply draw more things on the screen.
But regardless of any updates from developers, almost all VR games on Quest 3 will automatically render at a 30% better quality. The internal default resolution has been increased by Meta from 1,440 by 1,584 pixels (Quest 2) to 1,680 by 1,760 pixels (Quest 3), thanks to the improved GPU capability. Of course, if developers so want, the resolution can still be raised.
As usual, Qualcomm has also created a reference design for a headset that other headset producers can adopt or modify to show off the capabilities of the new technology.
The headset supports eye and hand tracking and contains two built-in OLED microdisplays, each with a resolution of 2,560 × 2,560 pixels with pancake lenses. A video demonstrates how the passthrough latency is so low that the headsets may be used to play table tennis.
