Snapdragon for wearables has LTE, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

The trio of Snapdragon chips include the 625, 435 and 425 and the aim is to support LTE, new connectivity standards like 802.11ac and the latest camera image sensors.

Smartphones with the new chips will be available in the second quarter, according to the company.

Qualcomm Inc. on Thursday plans to announce a cellular chip that can transmit a billion bits of data a second, hoping to bring mobile users speed comparable to today’s most advanced wired services.

Then there’s the Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem, which is the first mobile LTE modem to support 1Gbps download speeds – in other words, INSANE download speeds of the kind that conventional computers have been enjoying for a while via fibre-optic connections.

Qualcomm has announced a new super-fast gigabit LTE modem, as well as three new Snapdragon processors.

These next-generation high and low-tier processors in the Snapdragon family are expected to be sampling to customers in mid-2016 and are expected in commercial devices in the second half of this year.

The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, WTR5975 and QET4100 are designed and optimized together as a system to support fast downloads, swift application performance, as well as provide enhanced thermal efficiency and optimized power consumption.

Meanwhile, the Snapdragon SOC 625, 435, and 425 chips are processors that show Qualcomm can target multiple segments with the same core chip designs. “With the introduction of the Snapdragon Wear platform and Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, Qualcomm Technologies is well-positioned to extend its progress in wearables technology by enabling sleek designs, long battery life, smart sensing, and always- connected experiences in the next generation of wearable devices”.

Qualcomm says LG is already planning to use the chip in at least one device that’s coming out this year. Qualcomm claims the LTE modem – made using the 14-nm processor – is the fastest in the world today.

The LG Urbane, pictured above, like many other smartwatches running Android Wear from previous year launched with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 on the inside. The SD400 powers several flagship Android Wear devices.

Called Snapdragon Wear 2100, it is 30% smaller than the existing Snapdragon 400, consumes 25% less power, has an integrated sensor hub, and options on an LTE modem with satellite navigation, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.