Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 and the W5 Gen 1 wearable platforms, which succeed the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ platform introduced in 2020. The new wearable platforms aim to provide users with extended battery life, better performance, and sleeker designs. Here are the details to know.
Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, W5 Gen 1 Platforms: Details
The new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 and the W5 Gen 1 platforms are based on the 4nm process tech and are expected to provide two times higher performance, two times richer features, 50% longer battery life, and support for a 30% smaller design. The platforms are integrated with a 22nm always-on co-processor (only for the W5+ Gen 1).
The new Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 platforms come with support for “immersive interactive experiences” like 3D watch faces, 3D maps navigation, 2-way video calling, smart device control, real-time image recognition, and more.
Pankaj Kedia, and global head of Smart Wearables, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Qualcomm Technologies, said, “The wearables industry continues to grow and present opportunities across multiple segments at an unprecedented pace. The new wearable platforms – Snapdragon W5+ and Snapdragon W5 – represent our most advanced leap yet. Purpose-built for next generation wearables, these platforms address the most pressing consumer needs by delivering ultra-low power, breakthrough performance, and highly integrated packaging.“
Technical details include a CPU structure of four A53 cores and one M55 core, 1GHz A702 GPU, LPDDR4 RAM, and U55 machine learning bits. Additionally, there’s support the new ultra-low power Bluetooth version 5.3 and low power states such as Deep Sleep and Hibernate.
There’s a collaboration with Google for improved WearOS too. Google’s Bjorn Kilburn, GM and Senior Director of Wear OS, said, “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.“
Availability
The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 and the W5 Gen 1 platforms will make way into Oppo and Mobvoi smartwatches. Oppo has confirmed that it will launch the Oppo Watch 3 with the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 in August. Mobvoi will launch a TicWatch with the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 this fall.
