Qualcomm has unveiled the new Snapdragon 1100, a chipset designed for “targeted-purpose wearables.”
Its not as powerful as the Snapdragon 2100 unveiled a few months ago, instead Qualcomm are going for efficiency, with their new chipset. The 1100 is labelled as “target-purposed” stating products such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and wearable technology for the elderly and children, as the intended audience.
The new processor will support Cat 1 modem speeds, capable of LTE and 3G connections. Voice commands will be available for wearables with mics and naturally can be connected via Bluetooth and WiFi. Two notable features that will make wearables sporting the 1100 attractive is Power Save Mode and Qualcomm’s iZat location technology.
It’s wise for Qualcomm to invest further into the wearables market as it’s set to no longer be a niche market. CCS Insight predicts the wearables market will rocket from $12 billion (2015) to $25 billion (2017), with 322 million units sold. In the UK alone, Brits spent £51 million in 2015 on various wearable devices, from Fitbits to Apple watches.
Could we be seeing wearables for children as the new normal? Kids already have to wear those god awful high-visibility vests on school trips, maybe a wearable will allow them to show off that new Ben 10 top, and free them from that fluorescent yellow nightmare. Cheap wearables for the elderly is not a new concept with CarePredict already going for the elderly niche.
But a Tempo wearable from CarePredict can set you back $169 (£115), with Qualcomm producing the new Snapdragon 1100, we will start to see newer and cheaper wearables for children and the elderly. Qualcomm’s announcement was partnered with announcements of new devices using the Snapdragon 1100. Anda showed off a tracking smartwatch, while WeBandz announced a new range of tracking modules. Both are aimed at children while WeBandz is also marketed for the elderly.
The Snapdragon 1100 is shipping to manufacturers now so expect to see it in more devices next year.
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