Qualcomm is already testing next-generation wearable chips, or the Snapdragon Wear 5100 and 5100 Plus: the current ones, 4100 and 4100+ series, arrived in 2020, initially on Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3. It has been rumored for some time now of the fifth generation, but the colleagues of WinFuture report that the development cycle has entered a particularly advanced stage. The code name of the chip is simply SW5100, and there are two variants – probably, in fact, the smooth and the Plus.
EXPECTED FEATURES
According to the rumors that have emerged so far, the more traditional aspects of the hardware platform will remain substantially unchanged compared to the current Snapdragon Wear 4100/4100 +. The specifications notes are as follows:
- CPU: 4x Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.7 GHz
- GPU: Adreno 702 @ 700 MHz
- RAM: up to 4GB of LPDDR4X
- Storage: eMMC 5.1
- Connectivity: 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
The CPU frequency data is particularly interesting: it is lower than the previous generation (2 GHz net on SW4100). Previous rumors indicated Qualcomm would upgrade architectures – or at least employ more powerful cores, Cortex-A73s. However, it is important to note that the new chips will be made (by Samsung) on a 4 nm production process, compared to 12 in the 4100 (and the 5 nm of the first prototypes), which should have significant implications on efficiency and autonomy. .
Android
04 Aug
The two chips are expected to differ in packaging technology: Molded Lesser Package (MLP) versus Molded Embedded Package (MEP). Basically, in the first the energy management controller is external to the SoC, while in the second it is integrated. Furthermore, as in the current generation, the Plus model should include a dedicated coprocessor for the ultra-low power consumption mode, code QCC510. This allows the chip to record information such as steps taken without waking up the most energy-consuming CPU cores.
For now we have no concrete information on how long this test phase will last and when the chip will actually arrive on the market. It must be said that Over the past two years, the Wear OS world has been a bit stagnant: After a few TicWatch Pros, only Fossil with its (albeit extensive) sixth generation smartwatch lineup has employed Qualcomm’s latest chips. Samsung, with its latest Galaxy Watch 4, has decided to rely on a homemade Exynos.
