Meta and MediaTek Join Forces: Custom Chips for Augmented Reality Glasses on the Horizon

The chips we see in mobile phones are also found in many other devices. Depending on the desired performance and battery life, customized versions of SoCs can be found in wearables such as smartwatches and VR/AR glasses. Meta’s latest glasses feature a Snapdragon SoC, but it has been revealed that the company will partner with MediaTek to develop custom chips and may stop using Qualcomm.

Just as Qualcomm has dominated the high-end market with its Snapdragon processors for years, the recent generations of MediaTek Dimensity have done the same, surpassing their competitor. Recently, we saw the future Dimensity 9300 being faster and more efficient in both CPU and GPU compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The recent Qualcomm SoC launched to dominate the high-end market had been beaten within days. A few years ago, this was unthinkable, as MediaTek could not achieve such performance levels and settled for staying in the mid-range and low-end markets.

The Meta Quest 3 could be the last glasses to use Snapdragon SoC

MediaTek has always developed chips and SoCs at an affordable price, reaching many smartphone and tablet models on the market. It has recently positioned itself among the best, and companies have seen an opportunity to expand their businesses. Meta is one of them, as although it has extensively used Qualcomm in its Quest 1, Quest 2, and the current Quest 3 glasses, it has decided to partner with a rival.

Meta has teamed up with MediaTek to co-create custom SoCs for augmented reality glasses. If this collaboration continues and they manage to create a suitable chipset, the Meta Quest 3 could be the last glasses from the company to use Snapdragon.

Meta and MediaTek will create a customized and exclusive chip for their future glasses

Lately, we have seen Qualcomm SoCs like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 provide the best performance, but their efficiency decreases, and power consumption increases dramatically. Having an energy-efficient chip is Meta’s goal, and looking at the comparison of mobile SoCs, it is clear that MediaTek takes first place here. With chips like the Dimensity 8100, the company achieves more than double the performance/W compared to the latest Snapdragon chips. With the Dimensity 9200 it performs almost like the previous generation of Qualcomm, and the Dimensity 9300 is even better.

What is unknown is how the MediaTek chipsets will be designed for this sector since they will be custom SoCs rather than the ones used in mobile phones. What we do know is that this is an exclusive agreement between both companies, and therefore, they will use the custom-chip only for their glasses. Meta aims to develop an SoC that offers great performance, consumes less power, increases battery life, and provides lower latency. While there are no further details regarding this chip, it is known that MediaTek will use TSMC’s N3E node in 2024 to manufacture the Dimensity 9400. This may also be the chosen node for manufacturing the SoC intended for Meta’s future glasses.

The entry Meta and MediaTek join forces: creating customized chips for Augmented Reality glasses first appeared on El Chapuzas Informático.