Qualcomm says Samsung Electronics and Alphabet's Google plan to use a new computing chip designed to power mixed and virtual reality headsets.

The Qualcomm chip, called the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, will be able to process data feeds from a dozen cameras inside the headset. Competition in sales of headsets known as mixed-reality headsets — where the view of the outside world is relayed to the user through cameras — is expected to heat up this year when Apple launches its Vision Pro headset.

TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the iPhone maker could start selling the $3,500 Vision Pro headset, which uses the same chip custom-designed as some of Apple's laptops, later this month or in early February.

Qualcomm says that such an exploit, while possible, would be difficult to achieve because an attacker would need to have control over the LTE network itself for the attack to work. So users are advised to connect only to secure and trusted LTE networks.

It affects two dozen Qualcomm chipsets, including the Snapdragon 680 and Snapdragon 685 4G mobile platforms. These chips are used in several smartphones and tablets, including models from the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Moto and Huwei Enjoy and Nova product lines. The newer Snapdragon X65 5G Modem and Snapdragon X70 Modem RF Systems are also affected.

Customers were notified of all of these critical bugs on July 3, 2023, and all bugs are being addressed through software fixes provided by Qualcomm. The company recommends that users of devices containing the affected chips contact the manufacturer for information on the status of fixes and apply any available updates.