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Qualcomm announces support for next-gen VR experiences with new Snapdragon 845 VR development kit

March 22, 2018

Posted by: Zenobia Hegde

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), announced a new virtual reality development kit consisting of a wireless, standalone VR head mounted display (HMD), and a new software development kit (SDK) for the powerful Qualcomm® Snapdragon™845 Mobile VR Platform. This new virtual reality development kit (VRDK) from Qualcomm Technologies is designed to support the next generation of mobile virtual reality applications.

“In virtual reality, content is important to an immersive experience, so we’re excited to grant developers access to our new Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform through development kits that will help them create truly immersive experiences,” said Hiren Bhinde, director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“We built the new Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit with application developers in mind, designed to abate some of the hassles of optimising virtual reality content for mobile deployment, as well as to support easier access to several innovations and technology advancements of Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform.”

Hiren Bhinde

Advanced heterogeneous platforms like the Snapdragon 845 are capable of supporting immersive VR experiences when developers are given the right set of tools.

The new Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit is designed as a comprehensive, stand-alone mobile VR platform that is supported by Snapdragon profiler and power optimisation tools to simplify development and provide VR application developers with access to new VR features for truly immersive mobile experiences on Snapdragon 845 Android devices.

For the first time, many new technologies that are crucial for an optimal and immersive VR user experience will be supported in the Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit.

These include:

In addition to enhancing commercial reach for the VR developer community, Qualcomm Technologies is excited to announce support for the HTC Vive Wave™ VR SDK on the Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit, anticipated to be available later this year.

The Vive Wave™ VR SDK is a comprehensive tool set of APIs that is designed to help developers create high-performance, Snapdragon-optimised content across diverse hardware vendors at scale, and offer a path to monetising applications on future HTC Vive ready products via the multi-OEM Viveport™ application store.

The Snapdragon 845 Virtual Reality Development Kit’s hardware HMD and companion SDK are expected to be available in the second quarter of 2018.

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