Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon W5 and W5+ processors for flagship-grade wearables
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Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon W5 and W5+ processors for flagship-grade wearables
Note: This article was first published on 20 July 2022.
Qualcomm today (20 July 2022) announced the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, its 2022 flagship chipset processors for wearable devices.
According to Qualcomm, the new processors are marketed to wearable makers with premium devices and platforms. These new chips are built on the 4nm process, conferring tons of battery and power-related improvements on top of full integration for a host of features. The entire platform consists of its 4nm SoC and integrated 22nm co-processor.
In summary, compared to their predecessors, the new Snapdragon W5 and W5+ chipsets offer 50% lower power consumption, double the performance, two times “richer features” (whatever that means), and are 30% smaller than before. This combination of upgrades lets OEMs and brand manufacturers have more design flexibility in their preferred wearables, be it smartwatches or other on-body, tech-powered attires.
Platform innovations for the W5 and W5+ include Bluetooth 5.3, low-power islands for Wi-Fi, GNSS, and Audio, and low-power states like Deep Sleep and Hibernate.
Another vital announcement riding along the Snapdragon W5 and W5+ is the strong links between Qualcomm’s new chipsets and Google Wear OS. The announcement also featured the following information from Bjorn Kilburn, GM and Senior Director of Wear OS, Google:
"Google and Qualcomm Technologies have a longstanding history of helping our partners deliver great user experiences. We applaud the technological breakthroughs that Qualcomm Technologies is bringing to the wearables industry with the launch of its Snapdragon W5+ platform. With the Snapdragon W5+ platform, we're excited for what's possible in bringing new levels of performance, capability and battery life to Wear OS smartwatches," said Kilburn.
Qualcomm also said that brands like Oppo and Mobvoi are one of the first brands to use Snapdragon W5 and W5+ Gen 1 for smart wearables.
Source: Qualcomm
