Qualcomm has announced its Snapdragon 1100 chip designed for wearable devices and low-power performance.
CNet reports that the company's latest Snapdragon Wear 1100 was revealed on May 30, in Taipei, at Computex. The Wear 1100 has a more focused outlook, unlike the earlier Wear 2100 announced in February.
Traditionally, wearable devices have been considered a niche market. But last year, the wearable market surged 171 percent to 78.1 million from 28.8 million. Qualcomm aims to take advantage of this grow.
Instead of multi-purpose wristbands or smartwatches, the Wear 1100 is meant for simpler devices such as fitness trackers. Qualcomm says that the chip will be used mostly in connected wearables.
The new chip comes with a processor for Linux-based apps, built-in LTE modem, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It incorporates the Qualcomm iZat location engine for cell-ID positioning, multi-GNSS and ability to support applications that utilize geo-fencing for safety monitoring.
Integrated in the chipset are the HW random number generator, hardware cryptographic engine and TrustZone, which supports a highly secure environment for consumers. The Snapdragon Wear 1010 is already available and shipping.
VentureBeat cites Pankaj Kedia, senior director and business lead of smart wearables at Qualcomm, who said that the Snapdragon Wear 1100 is targeting purpose-built wearables. These kinds of products are designed around just a few usages, and they run a more targeted software environment, such as Linux. They require a good connected experience, high integration, require low power and small size.
The Snapdragon Wear 1010 chips are a part of the chip maker's strategy to go beyond pure mobile chips. The company is focused on the larger market of chips for making everyday objects smart and connected to the Internet of Things (IOT). That includes "smart cities," "smart homes" and "smart bodies," Kedia said. The new chip is optimized for power, size, connectivity, sensors and location.
According to the same publication, Qualcomm started its wearable chips division in the summer of 2014. Today, there are already 100 wearable products based on the company's technology. In devices that run Android Wear software, Qualcomm has acquired 80 percent market share.
