Most devices these days come with complex chipsets. More often than not, these chipsets are courtesy of Qualcomm Snapdragon, from phones to computers to TVs. Your entire digital life is probably functional thanks to this one company. Now, they have found another way to wiggle into your life and support you with the wearable platforms – Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 and Snapdragon W5 Gen 1.
Built with a 4nm-based system-on-chip and 22nm-based highly integrated always-on co-processor, Qualcomm boasts that the new wearable chipsets will offer up to twice the performance consuming half the power compared to the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ Platform. The W5+ chipset can even provide up to 50% longer battery life while taking up 30% less space compared to its predecessors.
When it comes to differentiating between the Snapdragon W5 and W5+ Gen 1, themselves, the major difference is that the non-Plus model skips out on the AON Co-Processor. It works to equip segment-specific wearables with the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 as they don't require those extra power-saving capabilities (wearables for Kids, Seniors, Health, and Enterprise segments).
The AON chip brings innovations to the platform in the form of speech processing, audio playback, and notifications, which are all handed off to the co-processor. It also enables features like low-power Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, and GNSS, and brings additional support for new power states like Deep Sleep and Hibernate.
With two reference designs from Compal and Pegatron, showcasing the capabilities of the platform, the company has also announced that Mobvoi and Oppo will be the first brands to launch wearables with this new SoC and with 25 smartwatch designs already in the works.