Qualcomm announced on Tuesday its next effort to expand the wearables space with its new Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program, which is set to propel the next generation of products from 2022 and beyond.
The semiconductor manufacturer discussed at a press event that trends are showing interest in wearables for teens, and seniors. Additionally, the company is considering for its next generation of wearables unique features, such as hands-free capabilities. It is also brainstorming feature aspects for products in the enterprise space.
“The wearables market grew 21% year-over-year and shows no signs of slowing down,” said IDC Research Manager of WW Mobile Device Trackers, Jitesh Ubrani in a statement.
“Innovative form factors continue to emerge as consumers demand new use cases in wearable devices. The smartwatch segment is going well beyond health and fitness tracking, expanding across consumer and enterprise segments, and further fueling growth of the category,” he added.
This is where the Qualcomm Wearables Ecosystem Accelerator Program comes into play. It will comprise of over 60 industry leaders, which will collaborate, including Arm, BBK, Fossil, Oppo, Verizon, Vodafone, and Zebra, to develop ideas for the future of the Snapdragon Wear platforms.
Qualcomm discussed its progress in the wearables space thus far, detailing in the last five years is has shipped over 40 million units across over 100 countries, while having collaborated with over 75 device manufacturers and over 25 service providers.
While these figures are lagging in contrast to Apple, which reports indicate shipped 21 million wearables in the first quarter of 2020, the point of this accelerator program appears to be to capture the ever-growing wearable market share.
Qualcomm plans to showcase its progress and future plans at the inaugural Qualcomm Wearables Ecosystem Summit will be held in Fall 2021. Judging by the roadmap the company laid out, products likely won’t launch until well into 2022.