Snapdragon Wear 4100+ Platform Combines Cortex-A53 Cores with Always-On Cortex M0 Core

Qualcomm entered the wearables market in 2016 with the launch of Snapdragon Wear 2100 quad-core Cortex A7 SoC, followed by other models all based on Cortex-A7 cores including the more recent Wear 3100 platform which also added a QCC1110 co-processor to extend battery life.

The company has now made the switch to 64-bit Arm with Snapdragon Wear 4100 and Wear 4100+ both featuring a quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor and companion chips, but the latter adds QCC1100 Arm Cortex-M0 always-on (AON) co-processor to lower power consumption.

Snapdragon Wear 4100+ key features and specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm SDM429w or SDA429w
  • CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.7 GHz
  • GPU – Adreno A504 GPU up to 320 MHz with OpenGL ES 3.1 API support
  • DSP – Dual Qualcomm Hexagon QDSP6 v56, dedicated MDSP for modem and GPS, and dedicated ADSP for Open Sensor Execution Environment (SEE) and audio
  • Memory & Storage I/F – LPDDR3 up to 750 MHz, eMMC 5.1 flash (ePoP memory)
  • Display – MIPI-DSI up to 1080p 30fps
  • Peripherals – USB 2.0
  • Process – 12nm technology
• AON co-processor – Qualcomm QCC1110
  • CPU – Cortex-M0 microcontroller core
  • Custom-designed SRAM
  • Deep learning engine for custom workloads
  • Display – SPI interface for display supporting up to 64K colors
  • Various I/Os
  • PMIC (See Power Management section)
  • 21mm2 footprint
• Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 5.0 via Qualcomm WCN3610 or WCN3980
  • Bluetooth 4.2 via Qualcomm WCN3620 or WCN3660B
  • 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz) WiFi
  • Integrated NFC with support from NXP
  • Cellular
    • Snapdragon X5 LTE Cat 4/3/1 Global Mode modem with support for LTE FDD, LTE TDD, 1x Adv, EV-DO Rev. A, TD-SCDMA; and GSM/EDGE
    • Qualcomm WTR2965 modem nd GPS RF
    • Qualcomm QPA4360, QSW8573, QET4101 Gallium Arsenide PAs
• Location
  • Gen 8C Satellite: GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo
  • Terrestrial: Wi-Fi, Cellular
  • Qualcomm Sensor Assisted Positioning for Wearables
• Audio & Voice – Qualcomm Voice Suite, Qualcomm Voice Noise Suppression and Echo Cancellation, Qualcomm  Voice Activation, Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec, and speaker amplifier
• Security Features
  • Qualcomm Processor Security feature
  • Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) 4.0.5
• Power Management
  • Wearable PMIC optimized for low power and high integration
  • Battery charging, fuel gauge, and haptics driver functionality

Snapdragon Wear 4100+ supports Wear OS by Google, while Snapdragon Wear 4100 supports both Wear OS by Google and Android Open Source Project (AOSP). QCC1110 co-processor runs an unnamed RTOS.

Snapdragon Wear 4100+ is expected to deliver more than 85% faster performance compared to Snapdragon Wear 3100,  and consume 25% less power. QCC1100 AON co-processor has been optimized to allow up to 64K colors instead of just 16 colors, and enables continuous heart rate monitoring, faster tilt-to-wake responsiveness, steps, alarms, timers, and haptics.

Next-generation imoo Z6 Ultra and Mobvoi Tic Watch Pro smartwatches will be powered by Snapdragon Wear 4100+, and start shipping in about one month. You may find additional information on the product page and/or press release.

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