Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 is new chipset for smart watches
Qualcomm, one of the leading semiconductor companies has announced a new platform for wearable devices, the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear. The first of the lineup will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 System on chip (SoC) that is designed to bring enhanced wearable experience to users. Thanks to the focus on wearable devices, the Wear 2100 is 30% smaller than and takes 25% less power when compared to Snapdragon 400 chip. Wear 2100 will be available with or without 4G/3G support. Qualcomm expects the Wear 2100 chip to be the default chip used on everything wearable. The best news is that Snapdragon Wear 2100 SKUs are available starting today.
“Qualcomm Technologies is a technology leader in the wearables space with its breadth of product offerings including the Snapdragon™ 400 processor, which powers the vast majority of current Android Wear™ smartwatches,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “With the introduction of the Snapdragon Wear platform and Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, Qualcomm Technologies is well-positioned to extend its progress in wearables technology by enabling sleek designs, long battery life, smart sensing, and always- connected experiences in the next generation of wearable devices. These benefits are expected to have widespread appeal across the mobile, fashion and sports ecosystems segments in the wearables space.”
“LG and Qualcomm Technologies have led the wearable technology space with close collaboration over the last two years and have launched multiple smartwatches and kid watches,” said David Yoon, vice president, wearables, LG Electronics. “We are delighted about Qualcomm Technologies’ next generation wearable plans, are planning to extend our collaboration with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, and look forward to launching new smartwatches and other wearable devices that bring new and innovative use cases to consumers later this year.”
Key vectors
- Smaller Size – 30 percent smaller than the popular Snapdragon 400, Snapdragon Wear 2100 can help enable new, thinner, sleeker designs
- Lower Power – 25 percent lower power than the Snapdragon 400 across both tethered and connected use cases, allowing for longer day of use battery life
- Smarter Sensors – With an integrated, ultra-low power sensor hub, Snapdragon Wear 2100 enables richer algorithms with greater accuracy than the Snapdragon 400
- Always Connected – Next-generation LTE modem with integrated GNSS, along with low power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth delivers an always connected experience
“Wearables have captured the public’s imagination, but a lack of connectivity can lead to frustration,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Internet of Things, AT&T Mobility. “With Snapdragon Wear’s new platform, it’s clear that AT&T and Qualcomm Technologies share a vision for independently connected wearables that create a seamless experience for those who wear them. AT&T’s own NumberSyncSM technology links compatible smartwatches to your primary phone number, creating one number for all your devices.”
Today, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has also announced the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, the worlds first modem with Gigabit class LTE chipset. The X16 LTE modem can hit speeds up to 1Gbps which was previously unheard of in wireless transmission. Qualcomm has designed the X15 LTE modem to be highly modular and scalable to allow them to evolve the product line to address wide range of IoT devices, applications etc. Also announced is the Qualcomm RF Transeiver WTR5975 which is the world’s first single-chip RF IC. Samples of both the products are available starting today and commercial products will be released in second half of 2016.
Snapdragon X16 LTE supports up to 4×20 MHz downlink Carrier Aggregation (CA) across FDD and TDD spectrum with 256-QAM, and 2×20 MHz uplink carrier aggregation plus 64-QAM for uplink speeds up to 150 Mbps.The best part is that the chip supports Snapdragon All Mode, supporting all major cellular technologies (FDD, TDD, WCDMA, EV-DO, GSM etc).
“In addition to serving as a significant milestone for the mobile industry, the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem is a powerful testament to Qualcomm Technologies’ continued technology leadership in all things wireless,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and president, QCT. “Not only does the Snapdragon X16 blur the lines between wired and wireless broadband, but marks an important step toward 5G as we enable deeper unlicensed spectrum integration with LTE and more advanced MIMO techniques to support growing data consumption and deliver an even faster and smoother user experience.”
