4nm Snapdragon Wear 5100+ Could Be Qualcomm’s Next Wear OS Chip

Last Updated on March 4, 2022 by Anu Joy

Qualcomm has been trying to inch its way into the wearables market for years. Latest reports say that the new Snapdragon Wear 5100 or 5100+ could help the company cement its position in the market.

The Snapdragon Wear 5100 could significantly up the performance for wearables, according to WinFuture. Previously its SoC was manufactured on the 5nm process, but the new design has changed it to 4nm. This could make wearables equipped with this SoC more energy efficient. Samsung Semiconductor is said to be manufacturing these chips.

Furthermore, it is reported that there exist two versions of the chip, based on their packaging. The Snapdragon Wear 5100 has the SoC and PMIC (power management integrated circuits) as separate modules within the Molded Laser Package (MLP). On the other hand, the Snapdragon Wear 5100+ is a Molded Embedded Package (MEP) with the SoC and PMIC together.

Snapdragon Wear 5100 Features

Snapdragon Wear 5100 features an “ultra-low power deep sleep mode” that still supports Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, thanks to the QCC5100 co-processor. The QCC5100 includes an ARM Ethos Machine Learning Core, which is used for fall and heart rate variance detection. The Snapdragon Wear 5100+ could also feature enhanced LRA haptics.

When it comes to the technical specifications, these chips come with ARM Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7GHz and Adreno 702 GPU with up to 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, supplemented by support for eMMC 5.1 storage. The chip’s ISP is said to facilitate up to 13MP and 16MP dual cameras with 1080p video recording as well as conferencing capabilities.

When it comes to connectivity, it is expected to come with support for Bluetooth 5.2 along with LTE. the Wear 5100 chip is touted to run full Android, besides Wear OS.  

As of now, there are no concrete details regarding the availability of Qualcomm’s newest Wear 5100. However, reports say that the process change from 5nm to 4nm could delay the launch by a few months.