Niantic and Qualcomm will build AR glasses for world-scale games

Fresh off today’s announcement of the Snapdragon XR2 mobile platform, Qualcomm has revealed an impressively ambitious early partner for its latest mixed reality effort: AR software giant Niantic. The developer of multi-billion-dollar hit Pokémon Go and the popular Warner Bros. collaboration Harry Potter: Wizards Unite said today that it will collaborate with the chipmaker on AR glasses, software, and cloud components.

While details on the partnership are still few and far between, the deal will combine Qualcomm’s XR2 hardware and software with Niantic’s Real World Platform to enable world-scale AR games shared by millions of concurrent users. Though imagery for the platform isn’t yet available, it’s not hard to imagine people wearing Niantic glasses as they wander through shared public places chasing Pokémon, rather than doing so with their smartphone screens.