Qualcomm and ecosystem leaders unite efforts to help accelerate wearables growth based on Snapdragon Wear platforms

Turnkey Reference Design Solutions from Several Industry Players Help to Facilitate the Development of Smartwatches, Kid Watches, and Smart Trackers

Oct 22, 2018 | HONG KONG

Today, at the Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), unveiled a series of ecosystem collaborations to expand the reach of its Qualcomm® Snapdragon Wear™ family of wearable platforms with turnkey reference designs. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced that it is working with leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) and ecosystem players including Compal Electronics and Longcheer on smartwatches, Huaqin and Thundersoft on 4G kid watches, Franklin Wireless on 4G smart trackers, and Smartcom on 4G connected end-to-end solutions. 

These ecosystem collaborations aim to support a range of customers to more quickly develop next-generation wearable devices based on the Snapdragon Wear family of platforms including the recently announced Snapdragon Wear 3100 for Wear 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.

“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,” said Pankaj Kedia, senior director, product marketing, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “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.”

Since the Company’s entry into the wearables space, Qualcomm Technologies has worked with its customers to help launch more than 200 wearable products at the average rate of one new customer product a week since its inception. Qualcomm Technologies continues to maintain an industry leading position in Wear OS by Google based smartwatches with the majority of those devices using Snapdragon Wear platforms. The Company has also established itself as an industry leading voice across the 4G LTE based connected wearable devices.

Close working relationships announced today include:

  • Reference designs for reduced development time in smartwatches: Qualcomm Technologies recently introduced Snapdragon Wear 3100, its next generation smartwatch platform 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. Today, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. unveiled that it worked closely on Snapdragon Wear 3100 based reference designs from Compal Electronics and Longcheer. Compal Electronics and Longcheer’s reference designs are designed to allow customers to reduce the develop time of next generation smartwatches.
  • Reference designs for accelerated transition from 2G to 4G kid watches: Earlier this year, Qualcomm Technologies announced its dedicated platform, Snapdragon Wear 2500, to help accelerate the transition to 4G connected kid watches. The Company unveiled that it worked closely on reference designs based on this platform from two ODMs, Huaqin and Thundersoft.
  • Reference designs for LTE IoT based smart trackers: The smart tracking space is seeing increased growth as operators deploy Category M1 (eMTC) and NB-IOT networks. Qualcomm Technologies supports the smart tracking segment with focus on kids, pets, elderly, fitness, and valuables using its Snapdragon Wear 1100 and 1200 based platforms. The Company announced reference designs from Franklin Wireless, MeiG, Borqs and Arima.
  • Robust back-end for integration with 4G LTE networks: With a growing number of wearables based on 4G LTE, it is imperative that customers are able to deploy end-to-end solutions with superior integration into the operator networks. Qualcomm Technologies is working with Smartcom to help them provide such solutions on its 4G LTE Snapdragon Wear based devices.

Ecosystem leaders’ quotes:
“Compal has worked closely with Google and Qualcomm Technologies over the last three years to launch a series of Snapdragon Wear 2100 based smartwatches,” said Jason Tan, vice president of wearables, Compal Electronics. “We continue to expand our investments in the exciting smartwatch space and are pleased to announce our latest reference design based on Qualcomm Technologies’ next platform, Snapdragon Wear 3100. Our portfolio of designs enables customers to develop increasingly advanced products that fit a variety of consumer lifestyles and age groups.”

“Longcheer has a history of working closely with Qualcomm Technologies in the smartphone space,” said Barry Gerber, vice president, business development and marketing, Longcheer. “We are delighted to be joining the Qualcomm Technologies’ wearables ecosystem and are announcing our reference design based on the latest Snapdragon Wear 3100 based platform. We plan to utilize our expertise in the smartphone space to bring exciting form factors for both connected and tethered smartwatches to customers.”

“Huaqin, one of the premier ODMs in China, is working with leading customers to ship 4G LTE smartphones across a broad range of operators,” said Sean Wang, vice president and smart watch business unit head, Huaqin. “We are using this expertise to enter the smartwatch segment and are working with Qualcomm Technologies to help accelerate the transition from 2G to 4G kid watches. With our Snapdragon Wear 2500 based reference design, our customers can bring attractive kid watches with robust 4G LTE connectivity in China and beyond.”

“We have seen tremendous growth in the wearable industry especially in the 4G kid watch and smart tracker segments,” said Larry Geng, president of Thundersoft. “Thundersoft is working with Qualcomm Technologies to strategically help deliver some of the most advanced wearable solutions to customers. Our turnkey wearable solutions based on Snapdragon Wear 2500 and Snapdragon Wear 2100 platforms are designed to help customers lower the development cost and shorten development time.”

"Franklin Wireless Corp., a market leader in smart tracking solutions, is excited to announce our strategic collaboration with Qualcomm and the launch of the Snapdragon Wear 1100 and Snapdragon Wear 1200 based Smart Trackers. Franklin Wireless Smart Trackers, with the comprehensive Pintrac platform, provide a one stop, turnkey tracking solution. Franklin Wireless is delighted to announce our global collaboration with Qualcomm on our Pintrac solution", stated OC Kim, president of Franklin Wireless.

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