Qualcomm Announces Sound Elite Gen 2 Chipset to Power Personal AI Across Smart Glasses and Wearables

At Snapdragon Summit 2026, Qualcomm announced the Sound Elite Gen 2 chipset, designed to enhance voice input and neural processing for audio devices within its 'personal AI' ecosystem. The initiative aims to enable agentic AI workflows across a constellation of devices, including phones, watches, and glasses, by running models directly on silicon for efficient context-aware execution. Qualcomm confirmed that its Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 chip will power upcoming AI glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, which are set to release later this year and compete with Ray-Ban Meta Smartglasses. Additionally, the company highlighted partnerships with Samsung and Google for Android XR devices and introduced the START program to lower barriers for eyewear manufacturers entering the AI glasses market.