Qualcomm brings RISC-V Wear platform to Google Wear OS
Wearables collaboration between Qualcomm and Google continues through the development of the RISC-V Snapdragon Wear platform. This effectively means that Qualcomm is bringing the RISC-V Wear platform to the next-gen Google Wear OS, marking a milestone for bringing RISC-V compatible CPUs to the Android ecosystem.
Qualcomm plans to commercialize a wearable device solution based on RISC-V technology globally. Accordingly, work has begun on a project to ensure that the applications and software ecosystem for RISC-V will be available for commercial launch.
The deal will help pave the way for more products within the Android ecosystem that can take advantage of low-power, high-performance custom CPUs, Qualcomm explains. To get there, companies will continue to invest in Snapdragon Wear platforms as the leading smartwatches for the Wear OS ecosystem.
Innovations on the Snapdragon Wear platform will help the Wear OS ecosystem to evolve quickly and simplify the launch of new devices globally, says one of Qualcomm’s vice presidents, Dino Bekis.
RISC-V (where V is actually the Roman numeral five) is a fifth-generation architecture for processors built on the concept of a smaller instruction set (ISA), and unlike most other ISA standards, its development is not limited by paying expensive licenses because in regarding royalty-free open source technology.
Both Google and Qualcomm recently joined other industry players to launch the RISC-V Software Ecosystem (RISE). As an open source instruction set architecture, RISC-V technology encourages innovation by allowing any company to develop completely custom processor cores.
This expands the market as there is room for more companies to enter the business, which then creates increased innovation and competition. The commercial product launch time for the RISC-V wearable solution is still unknown, but will be officially announced.