Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Tech giant Qualcomm is joining forces with Facebook's parent company Meta to develop custom chipsets for the social media giant's virtual reality products, officials said Friday.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the new partnership at the IFA technology show in Berlin.
The agreement comes as Meta is planning to release its next-generation virtual reality headset in October amid disappointing financial returns during the second quarter at its Reality Labs division.
The companies said they will "collaborate on a new era of spatial computing" with the help of Qualcomm's "extended reality" technology feature called Snapdragon, which produces 3D immersive experiences through the use of a futuristic headset.
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The devices are said to have the effect of completely closing off the outside world by merging physical and digital imagery, which allows users to do things like interact with friends virtually or behold microscopic phenomena like viruses and bacteria spreading.
"We're working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized reality chipsets -- powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology -- for our future roadmap of Quest products," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said according to CNBC.
Quest produces Meta's line of virtual reality headsets, including the Meta Quest 2, which contains the Snapdragon XR2 chipset made by Qualcomm.
Last year Facebook rebranded its parent name to Meta to emphasize the company's new future direction toward the metaverse, a term that describes an augmented digital reality where people will work and live alongside their existence in the real world.
The deal brings Meta one step closer to achieving its ultimate vision, with the company focused on custom-made chipsets that would elevate the allure of its headsets in the marketplace.
Apple took a similar approach with the iPhone, designing its own custom processors instead of buying shelf-ready ones, a move that ultimately put it ahead of competitors like Samsung. It's expected to release a VR headset after recently filling for trademark names.
"Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor," Zuckerberg said according to CNBC. "These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences."
Notably, the chips inside the headsets might one day be featured in devices not made by Meta.
"The VR chipsets that are being designed as part of this collaboration are not exclusive to Meta, but we're excited to work together on a deeper engineering level that's a first for both companies," Qualcomm said according to CNET.
Virtual reality headsets have been around since the early 1990s, but have become especially popular with the rise of competitive video gaming. Facebook paid $2 billion to acquire the Oculus VR in 2014.
Virtual headset technology is also used for medical and military training.
