14 Aug 2025
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: XR Heavy Hitters Speak
AWE USA 2025
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the best AWE conference sessions. With AWE USA 2025 concluded, we have a fresh batch of session footage to sink our teeth into for weeks to come.
We continue the action this week with a heavy-hitter roundtable? Where do XR execs from Qualcomm, Snap, Google, and Meta believe we are in XR's lifecycle? And what do they predict comes next?
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library of conference sessions on AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Said Bakadir, Qualcomm
Scott Myers, Snap
Hugo Swart, Google
Bruno Cendon, Meta.
Speakers
Said Bakadir, Qualcomm
Scott Myers, Snap
Hugo Swart, Google
Bruno Cendon, Meta.
Key Takeaways & Analysis
– An ongoing debate in XR is where we are in the industry's lifecycle.
– Are we in an extended trough or finally at the cusp of an adoption inflection?
– One would be right to remain skeptical, given past overpromised outcomes.
– But there is evidence that things are different this time due to converging factors.
– For one, the underlying capabilities have reached new heights.
– That includes the entire stack, such as processing and optics.
– Meanwhile, there's renewed faith given market validation for low-immersion formats.
– That includes 2 million+ lifetime unit sales for Meta Ray Bans.
– This is an encouraging demand signal and a model being replicated by others.
– All of this has been made possible by another macro factor: AI.
– It has come along at the right time to be a force multiplier for AR.
– With onboard intelligence, new utility is unlocked, such as multimodal AI.
– Meanwhile, the question remains if glasses are the right hardware for AI.
– Given that they're situated for first-person perspective, it could be the right vessel.
– Due to face-worn orientation, glasses see what you see and hear what you hear.
– As for development road maps, AI will become more intelligent and ambient.
– AI should fade into the background to be prompted (or proactive) when needed.
– There will be ample technical challenges on the way, including size, cost, and power.
– One answer may be distributed processing to offload compute locally or to the cloud.
– Getting developers to fill out a content ecosystem is another challenge.
– This could be aided by platforms like Android XR that extend from existing skillsets.
For more color and depth, see the full session below...
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