The word “wearable” may already be too broad a term in the tech world. It includes more than just a smartwatch. is exoskeleton “Wearable”? What about the oft-ridiculed AI pin? Qualcomm seems to think it’s so important that its latest chipsets are built not just for smartwatches, but for whatever stupid big tech AI-centric technology will be attached to our lapels and necks in the future.

Previous Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear chips were primarily intended for smartwatches. The new Snapdragon Wear Elite will be first announced in time for MWC 2026 in Barcelona, ​​and is said to offer more platforms. The chip is built on a 3nm process node and is powered by Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU. This neural processing unit is built to handle low-end AI tasks, but Qualcomm also includes an additional eNPU AI accelerator for low-power AI use cases.

The chipmaker further claims a 5x increase in single-threaded performance for the CPU compared to the previous W5 Gen 2 chip. The chipmaker has also improved the maximum frame rate you can get from Wear Elite’s GPU. With these upgrades, next-gen smartwatches could be a little more nimble when loading apps. However, Qualcomm’s main goal is to introduce new use cases for the platform, whether through pins, pendants, or AI-centric hubs.

The new chip promises to be able to handle 2 billion parameter AI models on the device. To put this into perspective, Google’s smallest AI model, Gemma, is a 270 million parameter model. This means that this chip is technically capable of handling very small conversation models. How it will affect reality remains to be seen. Additionally, Qualcomm claims to have improved image stabilization for its small cameras. Supports cameras that capture images and videos at 1080p and 60 fps. These can be useful for AI vision models. At the same time, all kinds of AI vision models need to run on the cloud and require constant internet connectivity. The need for always-on 5G or Wi-Fi connectivity has stymied previous attempts at AI wearables. Even if we ignore the tendency for AI to provide inconsistent answers or outright lie about what it sees.

A future full of AI wearables

John Kehley, senior director of project management at Qualcomm, told Gizmodo that the chipmaker is already in talks with multiple companies, all of which will eventually create a variety of meaningful AI wearables. Kehrli talked about how different form factors are being developed beyond AI glasses. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and AR glasses. There’s also Razer, and players Project Motoko Gaming Headset It features two camera lenses, and an AI that sees what you’re playing and provides (often inconsistent) commentary.

Then I have a device like Looky L1a self-proclaimed “personal AI wearable.” It may look like the Nickelodeon splat logo, but it’s made to be worn around your neck to provide commentary or simply document your life with a built-in camera that can take 1080p video and photos. The device currently runs on Qualcomm’s W5 Gen 2 chip.

Can Qualcomm chips overcome Humane’s flaws?

So far, the most high-profile examples of AI wearables have been farces or outright failures. Humane famously raised $240 million in investment to create AI-centric Pins. Requires constant internet connection It overheats when performing the most basic tasks. Eventually humanity disbanded, Sold most of assets to HP. Other devices, such as the Plaud AI Pin, are simply recording devices that rely on apps and cloud-based AI for transcription.

Then there was another friend, Startup with VC support I tried to put my AI companion around my neck. A $1 million New York City advertising campaign ran afoul of skeptical graffiti artists, and the company ultimately Transforming from AI hardware You will be taken to yet another chatbot website interface.

Kehrli said Qualcomm does not envision a single use case for this AI-enabled wearable chip. The next device may arrive in a form factor that no one has thought of. “What makes sense to you may not make sense to me,” he said. Eventually, you may find yourself flooded with devices that have very specific use cases. Some companies didn’t get that memo.

We still don’t know what OpenAI and famous designer Jony Ive are all about Cooking in progress. However, a recent leak from The Information suggests it could be more similar. smart speaker with built-in camera Helps process information. Similarly, Bloomberg reports that Apple Developing our own AI pendant This is equivalent to the Humane Ai Pin, just with AI-enhanced Siri built-in. It’s difficult to judge technology by its description alone. Whether it’s in the Marie Kondo sense or the gadget nerd sense, these devices aren’t the kind of things that spark instant joy. Without a clear use case from the beginning, it’s highly unlikely that the average user will be willing to wear a camera around their neck.