In Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality News
June 11, 2020 – HTC Vive has announced that it is working together with Qualcomm Technologies through an agreement to pre-integrate and optimize Vive’s Wave development platform for devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile platform, including the Snapdragon 855, Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon XR1, and Snapdragon XR2 platforms.
Starting now, the Vive Wave runtime will be made available to all Snapdragon customers on the chipsets. In addition, HTC engineers will offer testing and support for new deployments of the Wave platform as part of the agreement between the two companies.
For device manufacturers, whether a smartphone-powered virtual reality (VR) experience or a standalone headset, the Wave platform delivers both a runtime and content library so that businesses and carriers can offer new VR options for their customers with low overhead for engineering teams, according to HTC Vive. The company added that the agreement also allows it to create a turnkey XR solution by unlocking access to the Viveport app store to deliver immersive XR content.
Vive is known for both PC-VR and standalone headsets, but the company states that it also sees growing interest in smartphone-driven VR experiences, especially as 5G comes online around the world. With Vive Wave runtime integrated on 5G smartphones powered by Snapdragon, operators will be able to deploy a connected VR experience to headset ‘XR viewers’ – glasses that are tethered to a 5G-enabled smartphone, via a USB-C cable, offering an immersive and accessible way to experience extended reality (XR) apps as a virtual, augmented or mixed reality experience.
In addition to access to the Vive Wave runtime and support from HTC engineers for new deployments, HTC Vive is also awarding creative developers. In October, the company announced the 2020 Wave Developer Awards (WDA), a global contest for high-quality mobile VR content including games, videos, and applications. 24 titles have been shortlisted as WDA Finalists across two content standards, one three degrees of freedom (3DoF) and one for six degrees of freedom (6DoF), for a chance to win prize money, VR devices, and technical support and promotional opportunities.
All WDA entries will be published on Viveport automatically, included in the Viveport Infinity content library, and made available to users of standalone VR devices such as HTC VIVE, iQIYI QIYU VR, Pico, DPVR, Skyworth VR, and Shadow VR. The Viveport China team is also organizing a virtual WDA ceremony through the Engage Platform, which will be held on June 23 to celebrate the winners.
Through the WDA and the availability of even more high-quality mobile VR content in Viveport Infinity, we’re continually working hard to jointly promote the development of the mobile VR industry.
In a company blog post, HTC Vive stated “As technology moves forward, we’re focused on being at the forefront of new innovations, such as next-generation XR viewers powered by 5G smartphones, by providing an open platform for easy mobile VR development through Vive Wave.”
For more information on Vive Wave please click here.
Image credit: HTC Vive
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About the author
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.