Qualcomm Launches Next-Generation Snapdragon W5+ Wearables Platform, Boasts of Big Performance Gains
New platform includes on-board machine learning engines, four application-class processors, a jump in battery life, and more.
Qualcomm has announced a new platform family for wearables, based on a 4nm process and delivering a claimed doubling in performance and big boost to battery life compared to its previous-generation: the Snapdragon W5 and W5+.
"The wearables industry continues to grow and present opportunities across multiple segments at an unprecedented pace." claims Qualcomm's director of smart wearables Pankaj Kedia. "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.
"Additionally, we extend our proven hybrid architecture with new low power innovations such as Deep Sleep and Hibernate states delighting consumers with premium user experiences while extending battery life."
According to Qualcom's internal benchmarking, the new W5 and W5+ series deliver a 50 percent boost to battery life while delivering twice the performance of its last-generation Wear 4100+ — much of which comes down to its new 4nm semiconductor process node, though the family's AON coprocessor is built on a larger 22nm node. Other power savings are delivered by new low-power sleep and hibernate modes and power islands that allow the Wi-Fi, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), and audio subsystems to be completely powered off when not required.
The flagship part in the range is the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, which offers a Qualcomm SW5100 system-on-chip (SoC) built on a 4nm process node with four Arm Cortex-A53 application-class processors running at up to 1.7GHz and a 3D-capable Adreno A702 graphics processor running at up to 1GHz. The AON co-processor, meanwhile, is a QCC5100 system-on-chip built on a larger 22nm process node and offering a single Arm Cortex-M55 core running at up to 250MHz, a 2.5D-capable GPU, an Arm Ethos-U55 machine learning core, and Qualcomm's own Hexagon DSP V66K artificial intelligence accelerator.
For connectivity, the platform includes dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.3, along with multi-constellation dual-frequency GNSS support. A wearable-optimized modem offers 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity with backwards compatibility down to GSM/EDGE, and a camera interface comes with twin four-lane MIPI CSI DPHY/CPHY. For storage, there's an eMMC 4.5 controller — and on the software front the platform supports Google's Wear OS or Android and the FreeRTOS real-time operating system.
Although only just announced publicly, Qualcomm is claiming a range of design wins for the platform already. "We are thrilled to be working with a range of customers and partners, thus expanding our thriving wearable ecosystem, and are delighted to announce 25 designs in the pipeline across segments based on the new platforms," Kedia unveiled at the launch event. "We have collaborated extensively with our first customers, Oppo and Mobvoi, over the last year and look forward to seeing their products."
More information on the Snapdragon W5+ is available on Qualcomm's product page; the company had not at the time of writing, however, yet detailed the final specifications of the Snapdragon W5 non-plus variant.