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Qualcomm Promises Gigabit LTE Speeds and New Chips to Power Smartwatches (google.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the fast-and-furious dept.

Qualcomm may have been losing steam (and jobs and sales), but it looks like the major telecommunications corporation is back in the lead when it comes to pushing out new LTE technologies. Qualcomm announced today the new Snapdragon X16 modem, which together with the WTR5975 transceiver, boasts Category 16 LTE download speeds of up to 1Gbps. Qualcomm also announced new chips that will power the next generation of wearables. Although you shouldn't hold your breath just yet, the implications could be huge!

2 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. This is awesome news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is sweet! Now my next smartwatch will be able to do absolutely nothing useful way faster than my current one can!

  2. Yeah but who's going to buy them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The problem is who's going to buy them. Qualcomm's business was built to support a few large companies in high volume like Samsung and some Chinese phone manufacturers. The reason their sales are tanking is not because their processors aren't good, it's because Korea and China have chosen to build their own domestic industries around semi-conductor development.

    So if Apple's not going to buy (they make their own chips), and Samsung's not going to buy, and the Chinese manufacturers aren't going to buy, and most wearables these days are like FitBit, not nearly complex enough to require something like a Snapdragon, who are they going to sell to?