Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) has launched a new Snapdragon Wear 1100 SoC processor exclusively manufactured for the future generation wearable products.
Announced at the ongoing Computex 2016 and accessible to manufacturers, the Wear 1100 offers a wider range of new functionalities such as longer battery life, smart sensing, and secure location including LTE support. You can expect a new range of products manufactured using the processor in the next few months.
In contrast with the previous Wear 2100 SoC, the recently released Wear 1100 SoC is targeted towards small devices such as fitness trackers and products oriented for kids. In addition to LTE, the processor also integrates Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities including low power mode called Power Save Mode (PSM).
Before launching Snapdragon 1100 processor, Qualcomm had released Snapdragon Wear 2100, CSR102x Bluetooth Smart 4.2 SoC, and Qualcomm SiRFStar location and are currently used in various products including few upcoming devices.
Qualcomm, meanwhile, revealed that there are more than 100 wearable products powered with processors manufactured by the company. The product team is aggressively working to manufacture more power saving processors for wearables since the future world mainly comprises of IoT-related products and devices.
According to a report released by IDC, the overall volume of wearable shipments has substantially increased by 171 percent in 2016 compared to last year. Moreover, the overall shipments of wearable devices grew up to 78.1 million units as compared to 28.8 million in 2015.
Companies like Qualcomm want to tap the increasing market share of wearable devices since this is the best environment to reach out to both market and consumers. In the meantime, Qualcomm has established partnerships with Aricent, Borqs, Infomark, SurfaceInk, Anda Technologies, inWatch and WeBandz to build next generation wearable devices powered by their latest processors.
In another significant development at Computex 2016, Asus also unveiled a wide range of products powered by award-winning Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. The products include Zenfone 3 (three variants), Zenbook 3, Asus Transformer 3, and the Asus Zenbo Household Robot with voice control.
