Qualcomm announces its new and smaller Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 for smart glasses

Qualcomm just took the stage at AWE 2025 to unveil the Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1, its newest chip for smart glasses—and it’s clear the company sees a big future for wearable AR.

This update builds on the original AR1 Gen 1, which already powers the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The new AR1+ Gen 1 is even smaller, cutting the chip size by 26%. That means smart glasses with a 20% reduction in temple height, making them noticeably more compact and wearable.

According to Qualcomm, “The premise is simple: AI glasses are set to operate independently without needing to be paired with a smartphone or the cloud. In the near future, I will be able to leave my phone in my pocket or in the car and just wear my smart glasses during a supermarket run, as I showed off during my AWE demo.”

Qualcomm isn’t just making things smaller. The Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 delivers improved power management for longer battery life, even with Bluetooth streaming, video, and computer vision running. Wake with voice is also less demanding, so you won’t kill your battery just asking questions.

The new chip can run a small language model (SML) directly on the glasses. In its demo, Qualcomm showed an assistant using Llama 1B that answered questions entirely on-device—no cloud or internet required.

The company also teased how smartwatches and smart rings might add even more ways to control and monitor smart glasses, from gestures to motion tracking and health data.

On the premium side, Qualcomm still has the AR2 Gen 1 chip for more immersive AR, plus its XR lineup for headsets. Qualcomm also reaffirmed its close work with Google and Samsung on Android XR, promising more developer details soon.