Rochester, NY – February 25, 2019 – Vuzix® Corporation (NASDAQ: VUZI), (“Vuzix” or, the “Company”), a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technology and products is pleased to announce the debut of Vuzix’ next generation enterprise smart glasses, the M400, one of the first products made commercially available using the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ XR1 platform.
Since the Company’s collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, was announced in May 2018, the teams have been actively engaged to develop the first Snapdragon XR1-based enterprise smart glasses. The Vuzix M400 enterprise smart glasses will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress (MWC) taking place February 25-28, 2019 at the Fria Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain.
“Snapdragon XR1 is the first dedicated XR platform from Qualcomm Technologies targeted to the class of devices that Vuzix has mastered. Vuzix’ focus on wearability, experience, and form factor combined with XR1 will drive smart glasses to the next level,” said Hugo Swart, head of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Technologies is a strong believer in the smart glasses segment for the enterprise. We look forward to seeing our collaboration with Vuzix help scale adoption in enterprises and become a mainstream device to help increase employee productivity in the new era of AI and immersive computing.”
The Snapdragon XR1 platform integrates Qualcomm Technologies’ heterogeneous computing architecture including an ARM-based multicore Central Processing Unit (CPU), vector processor, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and Qualcomm® AI Engine. The Snapdragon XR1 allows for power efficient on-device processing of vision-based machine learning algorithms that can help with key Augmented Reality (AR) use cases like superior pose prediction, object classification, etc. The Snapdragon XR1 platform was also designed to deliver an immersive User Interface (UI) experience, with features such as native voice processing, motion tracking, head tracking and more.
The new product, currently referred to as the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses, is expected to enter volume production in summer 2019. Further details and pricing will be announced this spring as well as the commencement of an early engagement program for select developers and customers. Even with all its new capabilities and features, the product will be physically, mechanically and for most software 100% compatible with Vuzix’ existing M-Series products.
The new system will run the latest version of Android, offer USB-C connectivity, and have a host of hardware improvements covering near every major feature that should make it by far the most innovative and powerful set of enterprise smart glasses on the market.
“The Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 platform with built-in Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities offers a platform of improved interactivity, power consumption, and thermal efficiency,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix. “The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses were designed to be best in class in enterprise and come equipped with Qualcomm’s XR1 processor; larger memory profile; better noise cancelling; a multifinger supported touchpad, built-in GPS and more. The M400 with the XR1 processor is, by almost every measure, an order of magnitude faster than current solutions on the market. The performance improvements also mean that for less processor intensive applications power consumption is expected to also be much less. Qualcomm Technologies has been a great partner for Vuzix and we look forward to expanding our relationship to support the burgeoning AR smart glasses market.”
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.
Qualcomm Snapdragon and Qualcomm AI Engine are products Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries.
About Vuzix Corporation
Vuzix is a leading supplier of Smart-Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and products for the consumer and enterprise markets. The Company’s products include personal display and wearable computing devices that offer users a portable high-quality viewing experience, provide solutions for mobility, wearable displays and augmented reality. Vuzix holds 144 patents and patents pending and numerous IP licenses in the Video Eyewear field. The Company has won Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) awards for innovation for the years 2005 to 2019 and several wireless technology innovation awards among others. Founded in 1997, Vuzix is a public company (NASDAQ: VUZI) with offices in Rochester, NY, Oxford, UK, Barcelona, Spain and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, visit Vuzix website, Twitter and Facebook pages.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
Certain statements contained in this news release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward looking statements contained in this release relate to our business relationship with Qualcomm, the ultimate success and date of availability of Vuzix products based on the XR1 platform, and among other things the Company’s leadership in the Smart Glasses and AR display industry. They are generally identified by words such as “believes,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “should” and similar expressions. Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are based upon the Company’s beliefs and assumptions as of the date of this release. The Company’s actual results could differ materially due to risk factors and other items described in more detail in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s Annual Reports and MD&A filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian securities regulators (copies of which may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.
Media and Investor Relations Contact:
Matt Margolis, Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Vuzix Corporation matt_margolis@vuzix.com Tel: (585) 359-5952
Ed McGregor, Director of Institutional Investor Relations, Vuzix Corporation ed_mcgregor@vuzix.com Tel: (585) 359-5985
Vuzix Corporation, 25 Hendrix Road, Suite A, West Henrietta, NY 14586 USA,
Investor Information – IR@vuzix.com www.vuzix.com
Source: Vuzix® Corporation
