Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Chips Bring Satellite Messaging to Smartwatches

Qualcomm has just introduced its latest chips for smartwatches, the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 and Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2, which bring satellite support to wearables. As tipped by many leaks earlier, Qualcomm has designed its new wearable platforms to provide efficiency gains, enhanced tracking, improved connectivity, and slimmer form factors for upcoming smartwatches.

Qualcomm has paired its new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 platform with a dedicated low-power co-processor that enhances battery life by managing background tasks. As for the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 platform, it is a more streamlined variant without a co-processor, aimed at slim wearable designs.

Key improvements of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 series chips

The biggest highlight of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 series chips is support for satellite connectivity. It allows users to send and receive emergency messages when their wearable doesn’t have regular cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity. These chips support SOS messaging via Skylo’s Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Network (NB-NTN).

Furthermore, Qualcomm has loaded the new Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 chips with the new Radio Frequency Front End (RFFE) module. This tech enables “Location Machine Learning 3.0” for enhanced GPS tracking. The brand claims these algorithms can make smartwatches with dual-band GPS 50 percent more accurate than the previous-gen chip. Users can expect better GPS connectivity even in dense urban environments or deep canyons.

Additionally, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 chip features efficient background processing with an always-on co-processor. It supports Wi-Fi, GNSS, and audio features in ultra-low-power modes. Also, Qualcomm has tailored the new chips for the newest version of Google’s Wear OS. It allows for smooth integration, advanced features, and better support for multi-device use.

These wearable platforms also have Qualcomm’s Artificial Intelligence Engine, a Hexagon V66K processor with CPU cores clocking at up to 1.7GHz, and the Adreno A702 GPU with up to 1GHz speed, 2.5D graphics, and OpenGL ES 3.1 support. They support LPDDR4 RAM, eMMC storage up to 4.5GB, Bluetooth 5.3, and Qualcomm Processor security.

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is the first to utilize Qualcomm’s new chips

Google’s recently unveiled Pixel Watch 4 is the first wearable to debut Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W2 Gen series chips. Qualcomm will roll out the platform for other Wear OS devices in the coming months. As of now, it’s not clear which other smartwatches will utilize Qualcomm’s new wearable platforms.

However, given the benefits of satellite messaging and advanced GPS tracking over the previous chip, more wearable device makers will certainly follow suit soon.