The subsequent wave of tech gadgets might not have a display screen. You won’t understand that they’re recording you. And you won’t even understand they’re tech devices in any respect.
Qualcomm, whose chips energy smartphones from main Android machine makers, launched a brand new chip Monday for brand spanking new merchandise alongside these strains. The firm says it’s seeing rising curiosity from tech corporations in gadgets that appear like pendants, pins, glasses and different discrete objects worn on the physique.
Tech corporations are racing to foretell whether or not AI’s reputation will lead to a brand new hit product, just like how the web laid the muse for the smartphone. Qualcomm’s chips energy hundreds of thousands of gadgets from corporations like Samsung, Motorola, Meta and plenty of others, so its new dedication could possibly be a kind of bellwether for the patron tech world.
But tech corporations should show that new gadgets can do issues higher or otherwise than smartphones and alleviate privateness issues round gadgets can surreptitiously file their environment.
Ziad Asghar, who leads Qualcomm’s wearables and private AI gadgets division, mentioned Qualcomm noticed the necessity for a brand new chip after corporations approached them with new gadget ideas.
The early success of good glasses was one other indication for Qualcomm, based on Asghar. Global shipments of good glasses grew 139% in comparison with final 12 months within the second half of 2025, based on Counterpoint Research.
“We have seen the demand (for smart glasses) go way beyond what we had predicted in (2025), and that has given us a lot more confidence,” Asghar mentioned.
The new chip, known as the Snapdragon Wear Elite, was designed with new merchandise like pins and pendants in thoughts however can even energy smartwatches. Qualcomm mentioned the chip is made for issues like operating AI fashions and dealing with different close by gadgets with out draining a battery, even in gadgets which might be frequently recording and speaking with telephones and different gadgets. Google, Motorola and Samsung are among the many corporations that may use the chip.
But tech giants face an uphill battle in convincing shoppers to embrace new gadgets. At least one firm has already discovered this the laborious approach. Humane, a tech startup based by former Apple executives, bought components of its enterprise to HP after its AI Pin did not catch on with shoppers.
But Asghar says wearable devices can probably deal with some duties extra effectively than a telephone, like on the spot translations throughout a dialog.
Smart glasses, earbuds and new potential gadgets can present translations in your line of sight and your ear so that you just don’t need to look down at a telephone display screen. Asghar additionally mentioned he has seen curiosity from the retail business in utilizing AI gadgets with cameras to trace the place consumers are wanting.
Plus, gadgets worn on the physique as a substitute of being tucked away in a pocket might be able to perceive context from one’s environment by means of cameras, microphones and different sensors, offering extra data to tailor solutions.
“It gives you an ability that basically you did not have before the device,” Asghar mentioned.
Meta, Google and Samsung are all betting huge on good glasses that use AI to investigate and reply questions on a wearer’s environment. Amazon says Bee, the voice-recording bracelet it acquired final 12 months, is vital to Alexa’s future.
Apple can be growing good glasses and a pendant, based on Bloomberg. OpenAI is predicted to launch its first {hardware} product — a wise speaker — subsequent 12 months based on The Information. And startups just like the Friend AI pendant and Plaud pin have already been making waves.
Google hasn’t introduced plans to broaden past its glasses, watches, telephones and earbuds. But Bjørn Kilburn, vp and common supervisor of Google’s smartwatch software program, mentioned the corporate is being attentive to these new kinds of gadgets.
“At the end of the day, it’ll come down to, ‘Is it a superior product for the user? Does it do something that existing things couldn’t do?’ And so, if something like that emerges, then we’d be silly not to take a look at it,” Kilburn informed CNN.
Such gadgets additionally imply it is going to be simpler than ever to be recorded with out one’s information or consent. Most gadgets, like Meta’s good glasses and the Amazon Bee bracelet, have an LED gentle that prompts to let bystanders understand it’s recording. Still, some girls have reported that males used good glasses to file them with out their information and publish the movies on social media. Meta, at the moment the main good glasses firm, talked about the glasses’ LED indicator gentle in a earlier assertion to CNN and mentioned folks ought to use the product “in a safe, respectful manner.”
Google’s good glasses haven’t launched but. But the corporate little question remembers the fallout from Google Glass, the discontinued, first-of-its-kind good glasses that sparked a wave of privateness fears in 2013.
Kilburn mentioned Google has a “huge responsibility” to guard consumer privateness and that the corporate takes it very severely.
“So that does mean that sometimes we go slower on some things, because we need to be deliberate and think through all of the different positive and potentially unfortunately negative use cases,” he mentioned.