LG confirms new smartwatch with next-gen Snapdragon Wear chip

Wearables are launching by the dozen, and the pace doesn’t seem to be slowing either.

LG has confirmed that it has at least one new smartwatch in the works.

The South Korean tech giant made the revelation at the launch of Qualcomm’s new wearable chip platform.

LG is yet to name the upcoming wearable, but says it will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor.

That’s Qualcomm’s latest effort in the wearable space, and is the first in a “new product family” designed for “next-generation wearable devices”.

^{The LG G Watch R, launched 2014}

At the announcement, LG’s David Yoon said:

“LG and Qualcomm Technologies have led the wearable technology space with close collaboration over the last two years and have launched multiple smartwatches and kid watches.”

LG’s wearables VP continued: “We are delighted about Qualcomm Technologies’ next generation wearable plans, are planning to extend our collaboration with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, and look forward to launching new smartwatches and other wearable devices that bring new and innovative use cases to consumers later this year.”

Qualcomm wares already appear in a number of existing smartwatches, the most prominent of which is the Snapdragon 400 processor. The SD400 powers several flagship Android Wear devices.

However, the new Snapdragon Wear platform marks a more concerted effort to dominate the wearables space.

Qualcomm is already a market leader for smartphone chips, so this attempted coup in wearables is no surprise.

^{Qualcomm’s Snapdragon logo}

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According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon Wear 2100 has a number of improvements over the Snapdragon 400, including:

• 30% smaller, for slimmer watch designs
• 25% lower power consumption
• Integrated, low-power sensor hub
• Next-gen LTE modem

Raj Talluri, Qualcomm’s Senior VP of Product Management, says Snapdragon Wear will enable “sleek designs, long battery life, smart sensing, and always-connected experiences”.

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The Snapdragon Wear platform is now available for manufacturers to sample.