Qualcomm's secret project with Samsung and Google is mixed reality smart glasses, and I'm glad

We've only heard murmurs about Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google's joint project since the three first made things official early last year. What once started as an XR headset competitor to Apple's then-unofficial Vision Pro was met with internal disagreements that led to reset after reset after reset. 

Recently, in an interview with CNBC, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon cleared the air and painted a more vivid picture. And it's not exactly what most people imagined.

Also: I saw the future of AI at Qualcomm's headquarters, and Copilot+ PCs were only just the beginning

Instead of an XR headset that would be self-powered or tethered to a battery pack, the chip maker is partnering with Samsung and Google to develop a pair of mixed-reality smart glasses. Most importantly, the wearable will be linked to a smartphone, offloading much of a traditional headset's weight, processing, and battery needs onto a device we're already used to carrying around.

"It's going to be a new product, it's going to be a new experiences," Amon told CNBC. "But what I really expect to come out of this partnership, I want everyone that has a phone to go buy companion glasses to go along with it." 

Considering Qualcomm's involvement with the most capable smart glasses on the market, such as the Meta Ray-Bans and Xreal Air 2 Ultra, and Samsung and Google's experience building Android smartphones and platforms, combining the two experiences feels like the most logical and safe path forward.

In fact, Qualcomm's Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chip was designed specifically for mixed reality experiences in smaller form factors such as glasses. At Mobile World Congress earlier this year, the company showed me a reference design by Goertek -- one that it shares with hardware manufacturers as inspiration when building their own wearables -- and the device looked promising.

Review: Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses: The best AI-powered AR glasses to buy right now

Having tested bulkier VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, Qualcomm's reference design was much more compact, practical, and, critically, natural feeling. 

If Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google can nail down the display quality, optics, and audio performance of the upcoming mixed-reality smart glasses, then I wouldn't be surprised if it draws a similar, if not larger, crowd as Apple did with the Vision Pro. 

With so many hands in the pot, pricing will be critical. On the bright side, we already have our smartphones in hand, so half of the job is done for them.