Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon Wear 1100 for smartwatches

Semiconductor firm Qualcomm is leaving no stones unturned in capturing the nascent wearable category. The American company took to the electronics tradeshow Computex in Taiwan to announce the Snapdragon Wear 1100 processor that is designed for entry-level smartwatches, fitness trackers, and similar accessories.

India and other developing regions could be a big stage for the Snapdragon 1100 processor. The world's second most populous nation is seeing a steady growth in the demand for smartwatches and fitness trackers among other wearable devices.

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon Wear 1100 system-on-chip is designed for kids' watches or watches for elderly, fitness tracker, and smart headsets.

"These kinds of products do two to five things really well. They run a more targeted software environment, like Linux. The whole user experience is much more targeted around these use cases. They still require low power, high integration, small size, and a good connected experience," Pankaj Kedia, senior director and business lead of smart wearables at Qualcomm told VentureBeat, adding that the Wear 100 chipset can handle only "a few usage cases".

The launch of the Snapdragon Wear 1100 comes months after Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Wear 2100, which is designed to serve smartwatches as well as fitness-centric features among others. Qualcomm continues to struggle against MediaTek in the affordable smartphone category. It's refreshing to see that it is aggressively trying to get hold of the cheap-priced wearable space.

Qualcomm, which assumes the tent pole position in the smartphone market, is actively making efforts to capture the wearable space, which is still in its nascent stage.