Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 and W5+ Gen 2 Launched With Improved Location Accuracy

Qualcomm officially announced the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 wearable platform. The new lineup brings two chips, a vanilla and a plus model. The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 model has just arrived with the Google Pixel Watch 4, whereas the Snapdragon W5+ is also disclosed with an additional co-processor.

The new Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 chip series for wearables is built on the same 4nm manufacturing process. It features the same quad-core CPU with 4x ARM Cortex-A53 cores as its predecessor from three years ago. Still, the new SoC brings substantial connectivity improvements. It offers support for NB-NTN, which stands for Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Network. It allows users to connect even if there is no cellular connection. This is designed to find help in rural areas. If you are stuck in nature, you don't even need your phone.

In addition, Qualcomm introduces the GPS positioning accuracy by 50% with its Location Machine Learning 3.0. The benefits of the new implementation will be seen in urban environments. Anyway, it will greatly deliver more precise location positioning thanks to this enhanced accuracy.

There are also improvements in the design of the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 series. For instance, the modem's size has been reduced by 20% and it draws less power. These are important milestones in the world of smart wearables. After all, with the modem taking up less space, manufacturers can fit the remaining space with other components or perhaps larger batteries. The lower power consumption also works in favor of these devices since their batteries are usually tiny.

The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 brings a 22nm node-based co-processor. It takes care of the essential processes while the main SoC shuts down and preserves power. Once again, this is a measure to adjust the energy consumption and ensure the batteries will have the best possible performance.

The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 is already available with the Pixel Watch 4. The Plus variant should arrive soon in new wearables from other makers.