The Apple Vision Pro features the chipset pairing of the M2 and R1, both of which have been mass produced on TSMC’s 4nm process. Qualcomm may obtain a lead against this hardware, as according to the latest rumor, the chipset maker will utilize both the 3nm and 4nm technologies to design its upcoming silicon range that is tailor-made for mixed-reality headsets.
Qualcomm’s current chipset for mixed-reality headsets is the Snapdragon XR+, which is fabricated on the 7nm process
With the San Diego firm said to introduce its first 3nm SoC for smartphones later this year, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, Qualcomm is also said to be developing two mixed-reality headset chipsets based on the 4nm and the cutting-edge node. Its latest chipset, the Snapdragon XR+, needs little introduction, but it should be noted that the company has leveraged the older 7nm technology for it. It is possible that with the Apple Vision Pro’s inception, Qualcomm decided to invest more resources in this category, as its rival’s $3,499 head-mounted wearable could pave the way for future growth in this sector.
The Snapdragon X Elite will be Apple’s first real competition against its M-series of chips powering an entire family of portable Macs, and soon, we may get to see a wave of AR headsets treated to SoCs mass produced on the same lithography. For its first 4nm ‘Snapdragon XR’ offering, Qualcomm may stick with TSMC as history has demonstrated in the past that the Taiwanese semiconductor giant is what allowed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to bridge the gap between Apple’s A16 Bionic and A17 Pro.
For the 3nm version, if Samsung can bring up those yields, which it continues to struggle with, Qualcomm can switch to a dual-soucing strategy that it was previously reported to adopt for its smartphone silicon but failed in that pursuit as Samsung has been unable to address the aforementioned problem since quite some time. We have reported that Qualcomm requested both TSMC and Samsung for their 2nm samples, so an opportunity exists for the Korean foundry to become partners once again.
Pretty soon, the Apple Vision Pro will have several competitors in the fold, each attempting to one-up the ludicrously expensive headset by either in pricing, weight, or features set to sway customers away. How successful these attempts will be is anyone’s guess, but we are happy to hear about Qualcomm’s alleged efforts to make the best chips it can.
News Source: Gamma0burst