A new wearable SoC

While smartwatches are getting better and better, one limiting factor for the segment is the processors that they use – most, if not all, Android Wear devices announced and sold currently are all using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 SoC which isn’t a purpose-built processor for wearables as it’s a phone processor first and foremost.

Qualcomm’s changing all of that with their new family of processors for wearables, aptly named Snapdragon Wear. The new processor line has a single model for now, the 2100. The new processor has been built from the ground up to be used exclusively in wearables, sporting a quad-core, Cortex-A7 CPU running at around 1.2GHz paired with an Adreno 304 GPU that’s capable of handling displays of up to 640×480 pixels. The SoC is capable of supporting NFC, GPS and Quick Charge 2.0, and will come in 3G and WiFi only versions.

Because it was made solely for wearables, the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor is 30% smaller in physical size than the SD400, which means companies can now make smaller and thinner smartphones moving forward. Because of its size, the new SoC is also around 25% more power efficient than its predecessor.