The winners of the smartphone increase assume they know what the following massive tech gadget is – KQ2

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

(CNN) — The subsequent wave of tech units might not have a display screen. You may not notice that they’re recording you. And you may not even notice 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 new merchandise alongside these traces. The firm says it’s seeing rising curiosity from tech corporations in units that appear to be 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 tens of millions of units from corporations like Samsung, Motorola, Meta and plenty of others, so its new dedication might be a kind of bellwether for the buyer tech world.

But tech corporations must show that new units can do issues higher or otherwise than smartphones and alleviate privateness issues round units can surreptitiously report their environment.

Trying to do what your telephone can’t

Ziad Asghar, who leads Qualcomm’s wearables and private AI units division, mentioned Qualcomm noticed the necessity for a brand new chip after corporations approached them with new gadget ideas.

The early success of sensible glasses was one other indication for Qualcomm, based on Asghar. Global shipments of sensible 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 may also energy smartwatches. Qualcomm mentioned the chip is made for issues like operating AI fashions and dealing with different close by units with out draining a battery, even in units which are usually recording and speaking with telephones and different units. Google, Motorola and Samsung are among the many corporations that may use the chip.

But tech giants face an uphill battle in convincing customers to embrace new units. At least one firm has already discovered this the exhausting means. Humane, a tech startup based by former Apple executives, bought elements of its enterprise to HP after its AI Pin didn’t catch on with customers.

But Asghar says wearable devices can probably deal with some duties extra effectively than a telephone, like immediate translations throughout a dialog.

Smart glasses, earbuds and new potential units can present translations in your line of sight and your ear so that you simply don’t must look down at a telephone display screen. Asghar additionally mentioned he has seen curiosity from the retail business in utilizing AI units with cameras to trace the place consumers are wanting.

Plus, units worn on the physique as a substitute of being tucked away in a pocket could possibly perceive context from one’s environment by 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.

The race to search out what’s subsequent

Meta, Google and Samsung are all betting massive on sensible 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 also be growing sensible glasses and a pendant, based on Bloomberg. OpenAI is anticipated to launch its first {hardware} product — a sensible 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 basic supervisor of Google’s smartwatch software program, mentioned the corporate is being attentive to these new kinds of units.

“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 instructed CNN.

Such units additionally imply it will likely be simpler than ever to be recorded with out one’s data or consent. Most units, like Meta’s sensible glasses and the Amazon Bee bracelet, have an LED gentle that prompts to let bystanders comprehend it’s recording. Still, some women have reported that males used sensible glasses to report them with out their data and submit the movies on social media. Meta, at present the main sensible glasses firm, talked about the glasses’ LED indicator gentle in a earlier assertion to CNN and mentioned individuals ought to use the product “in a safe, respectful manner.”

Google’s sensible glasses haven’t launched but. But the corporate little doubt remembers the fallout from Google Glass, the discontinued, first-of-its-kind sensible glasses that sparked a wave of privateness fears in 2013.

Kilburn mentioned Google has a “huge responsibility” to guard person 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.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.