Qualcomm announces collaborations for its wearables platform

US-based chip maker Qualcomm Technologies on Tuesday announced a series of collaborations with ecosystem leaders to boost the growth of wearables such as smartwatches, kid watches, and smart trackers based on the company's Snapdragon Wear platforms.

At its 4G/5G summit here, Qualcomm said that it was working with leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) and ecosystem players, including Taipei-headquartered Compal Electronics and China-based Longcheer on smartwatches.

On 4G kid watches, Qualcomm announced partnerships with China's Huaqin and Thundersoft. It tied up with US-based Franklin Wireless on 4G smart trackers, and with French wireless communication software provider Smartcom on 4G connected end-to-end solutions.

The ecosystem collaborations aim to support a range of customers to develop next-generation wearable devices based on the Snapdragon Wear family of platforms, including the recently announced Snapdragon Wear 3100 for Wear operating system (OS) by Google smartwatches, Snapdragon Wear 2500 for open source Android based 4G kid watches and Snapdragon Wear 1100 and 1200 for smart tracking solutions.

"We think Snapdragon Wear 3100 can change the arc of Wear OS based smartwatches because we are focused on two things -- to make the smartwatches more useful and make it last longer," Pankaj Kedia, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Qualcomm Technologies told reporters here.

Snapdragon Wear 3100 is based on a new ultra-low power system architecture, designed to bring new experiences and support for extended battery life in Wear OS by Google based smartwatches. Its first batch of customers include high-end watchmakers Fossil Group, Louis Vuitton, Montblanc.

"The wearables space is an exciting and fast-growing segment. Our Snapdragon Wear family of platforms bring key innovations in low power, small size, smart sensing, and superior connectivity to help transform the industry and drive growth across smartwatch, kid watch, and smart tracking segments," Kedia said.

"Working closely with leading ODMs and ecosystem players is essential to expand the wearables ecosystem and help our customers to bring new, innovative wearable products to consumers worldwide," he added.