Qualcomm Teams up with Google for RISC-V Powered Wearable System

Wear OS fans, rejoice – Qualcomm recently announced that it’s working alongside Google to develop a RISC-V Snapdragon platform for Wear OS devices, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. Qualcomm plans to commercialize the RISC-V based wearables solution in several regions worldwide, including the United States.

For those not familiar with the term, the RISC-V architecture essentially means that engineers will be able to develop a processor that’s optimized for performance, while consuming as less power as possible. Dino Bekis, VP and GM for Qualcomm’s Wearables and Mixed Signal Solutions states:

“We are excited to leverage RISC-V and expand our Snapdragon Wear platform as a leading silicon provider for Wear OS.  Our Snapdragon Wear platform innovations will help the Wear OS ecosystem rapidly evolve and streamline new device launches globally.”

Qualcomm states that work on a new RISC-V based system has already begun, and will continue to pave way for RISC-V compatible apps and a robust software ecosystem, once it becomes commercially available. Google adds that it is excited to extend its work with Qualcomm in bringing RISC-V tech to the market, although at the moment details regarding development are still a bit scarce.

No release date or partner OEMs have been announced by either party yet.

Source: Qualcomm