Qualcomm has sent out invites for a launch on September 10. The invite shows a watch with the clock set to 0910hrs and a caption that says “It’s time. set your watches”.
From the poster, it is easy to see that Qualcomm is teasing something related to watches and the only possible product we believe it may be unveiling is a new processor for smartwatches.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 2100 has been the default SoC of choice for smartwatch makers. The Snapdragon 2100 was released as far back as February 2016 and is more than due for a successor. That successor is said to be called the Snapdragon 3100 according to Winfuture.de and it is based on the same 28nm node as the Snapdragon 2100.
Qualcomm will likely announce the chipset alongside a new smartwatch made by one of its partner companies.
Back in May, Qualcomm’s senior director and business lead for smart wearables, Pankaj Kedia, revealed in an interview that the silicon manufacturer will release a new chipset for wearables this autumn alongside a lead smartwatch.
There are a number of manufacturers planning new smartwatches running Wear OS. The key players are Huawei, LG, and Google but there is a possibility Google will unveil its own smartwatches (rumored to be three) during the Pixel 3 launch in October. This leaves us with LG and Huawei.
There is gonna be more than one, it seems. More like three.
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) May 10, 2018
Irrespective of the watch launched alongside the new processor, you may want to wait for other manufacturers to release theirs before making a choice. According to Mr. Pankaj, multiple partner companies will have new smartwatches with the new SoC on the market in time for the holidays.
READ MORE: Qualcomm Announces New Audio SoC For Cheap Bluetooth Earphones
The new chipset is said to bring a bunch of new features to smartwatches including an ambient mode for when watches are not in use. It is also expected to bring a significant improvement to battery life.
(Source)
