Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC the chip designer is working on over 40 designs of new AI devices as the company prepares for a wave of "agents" across consumer electronics. In an interview on CNBC's "The Tech Download" podcast, Amon stated that AI agents will replace apps and predicted smart glasses could become as large as the smartphone market. The statements come as the tech industry shifts toward AI-powered wearable devices that can carry out complex tasks across various services, potentially changing how consumers interact with digital technology.
Qualcomm Develops Over 40 AI Device Designs Across Multiple Form Factors
Amon revealed Qualcomm currently has over 40 designs of AI devices in development. "Right now, we have over 40 designs of those devices, and I'm telling you, the types of form factors are very, very broad," Amon said on "The Tech Download."
The wearable tech devices include jewelry, earbuds with cameras, pins, and watches. "The principle is something that you wear, something [that] is with you all the time, something that can see the world around you, so you have context and have the ability for you to access an agent and talk to the agent," Amon said.
"I think there's going to be a lot of experimentation with different form factors," Amon added.
Amon States AI Agents Will Replace Traditional Apps
Amon described AI agents as the next step for digital assistants like Apple's Siri or Google Gemini. The tech industry is betting these agents will be able to carry out longer and more complex tasks across various apps and services on devices, such as booking holidays.
Amon shared an example of an agent that instantly retrieves details of banking transactions, eliminating the need for a user to navigate through the app and manually locate the information. Apps are "not dead," Amon said, "but apps are going to change."
"Those agents are going to be the new app," he added.
Amon stated the phone will be "around the agent" and that "the new classes of devices ... are going to be around the agent as well. And the agent will be the one that will understand human intentions and will do things for you, so there is a shift in what the center of gravity is." He added that phones won't disappear altogether.
Smart Glasses Shipments Projected to Reach Hundreds of Millions
Amon told CNBC he is bullish on smart glasses, stating the category could rival smartphones in terms of scale. Smart glasses shipments are now in the "order of multiple tens of millions" per year. In "a couple of years," Amon said this could reach the "order of hundreds of millions of glasses and could become as big as smartphones."
There were 1.26 billion smartphones shipped in 2025, according to Counterpoint research, around 3% higher than the year before.
Companies from Meta to Samsung are developing smart glasses with cameras in them.
AI Companies Enter Consumer Hardware Market
Amon said the shifts in devices could open the door for new types of companies to enter the consumer hardware market. Last year OpenAI bought io, the hardware startup founded by iconic Apple designer Jony Ive, as it looks to enter the consumer devices market.
"All the devices that we wear become endpoints for agents, and those AI companies understand they have to win those endpoints from agents," Amon said, explaining why non-traditional hardware companies are getting into gadgets.
Another motivation behind new entrants into the hardware space is data. Amon said these devices will gather data on a scale that is "exponentially larger" than the data used to train AI models. "So those companies want to have access to the data, because it's important to train future models," and to create "bespoke" AI experiences for users, Amon said.
Qualcomm Upgrades Chip Roadmap for Future Devices
Amon stated that with devices changing to potentially even smaller form factors, the chips that power them will need to change, as they will need to become more powerful and even more energy efficient.
"Our entire roadmap is in a process of upgrade right now. An entire roadmap, because I believe none of the devices we have today are prepared for the future," Amon said.
FAQ
What did Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon announce about AI devices?
Cristiano Amon told CNBC that Qualcomm is working on over 40 designs of new AI devices across multiple form factors including jewelry, earbuds with cameras, pins, and watches. He stated these wearable devices will serve as endpoints for AI agents.
How large could the smart glasses market become according to Amon?
Amon told CNBC that smart glasses shipments are currently in the "order of multiple tens of millions" per year. He stated that in "a couple of years" this could reach the "order of hundreds of millions of glasses and could become as big as smartphones." There were 1.26 billion smartphones shipped in 2025, around 3% higher than the year before.
Why are AI companies entering the consumer hardware market?
Amon stated that AI companies understand they need to win device endpoints for agents. He said another motivation is data access, as these devices will gather data on a scale that is "exponentially larger" than the data used to train AI models, which is important to train future models and create "bespoke" AI experiences for users.
