Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm CEO, said at MWC Barcelona that 2026 will be the year of AI agents.

Amon argued agents will need vast amounts of data and real-time context, and will shift the digital ecosystem from smartphone- and app-centric models to agent-centric ones.

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset at MWC, designed for on-device AI in smaller wearables.

Qualcomm said Samsung Electronics Co., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and Lenovo Group Ltd.’s Motorola have already committed to building products using the Wear Elite, with the first devices expected sometime in the summer.

Luca Rossi, Lenovo executive vice president, said the company wants to be the “orchestrator” of incoming data with its AI “super agent” called Qira.

Amon suggested wearables such as smartwatches, smart glasses, or wearable cameras could become as important as smartphones by providing continuous environmental awareness for agents.

https://www.techinasia.com/news/qualcomm-ceo-predicts-2026-will-be-year-of-ai-agents