Samsung, Google and Motorola are making AI-powered watches, pins and pendants using the new Qualcomm chip

When you think of wearables from the likes of Google, Motorola and Samsung, you probably think of earbuds and perhaps watches. But in the age of AI, a whole new world of wearable technology is coming to life, and we could soon see these companies branching out to make AI-powered brooches, necklaces, and other unexpected gadgets, too.

This new generation of wearable technology will be possible thanks to Qualcomm, which on Monday announced the latest version of its wearable chip, Snapdragon Elite Wearin Mobile World Congress In Barcelona. This new platform will be used by a range of partners, including Google, Motorola and Samsung to design a range of new devices.

Qualcomm’s philosophy toward wearables is pretty much “build it, they will come.” It makes the core technology that will power the devices and then will encourage companies to build on it as they see fit.

When I attended the company’s Snapdragon summit in Hawaii last year, he was Qualcomm’s marketing director Don McGuire painted me a picture On how he envisions the convergence of AI and wearables.

“AI will be ambient in many ways,” Lee said. It may not even be called a “device” if it is something woven into your clothing or worn on your person. “There are a lot of ideas floating around,” he added.

At the same event, Dino Bekis, who runs Qualcomm’s wearables business, introduced me to the Looki L1 — a lifelike camera built using the company’s W5 Gen 2 chip. This is the wearables platform introduced by Qualcomm last year, which was designed to work with Google’s Wear OS and launched with the Pixel Watch.

Unlike its predecessor, the new Wear Elite chip will work across Google Wear, Android, and Linux operating systems, with a neural processing unit that allows the use of artificial intelligence on the device with low power consumption. This is key for wearables, which you don’t necessarily want to charge every day. Qualcomm says Wear Elite’s advanced power management enables 30% longer battery usage, compared to the previous version, with fast charging taking devices to 50% in about ten minutes.

“The Snapdragon Wear Elite platform opens up new possibilities, delivering the performance, battery life and connectivity essential for the next generation of Wear OS,” Bjørn Kilburn, general manager of Wear OS by Google, said in a statement.

The first devices powered by the Wear Elite chip should be available in the coming months, with Motorola saying it will use the platform to build more AI wearables like the Project Maxwell AI concept, which it showed off at CES in January, and Samsung saying it will integrate Wear Elite into its next Galaxy Watch. This will make the watch a “more comprehensive health companion,” said Enkang Song, executive vice president and head of technology strategy at Samsung.

Samsung and Google may be focusing on watches, but the Snapdragon Wear Elite points to a future aura of personal wearables, which a CNET editor generally confirmed. Scott has explored Stein in more detail. The possibilities extend beyond what we’ve seen so far as this newest platform is being embraced by businesses large and small. I’ll be looking for demos to take advantage of the new chip this week in MWCSo stay tuned for more.