CES 2018: Qualcomm debuts Bluetooth SoC for wireless audio devices , II Tiny new Bluetooth chip is a big revolution for high-tech headphones , II Qualcomm Claims Its New Chip Will Triple Battery Life on Wireless Headphones

 ces2018, Qualcomm , Everyone knows about Bluetooth technology; it’s been around for ( ces2018, Qualcomm ,)quite some time, and we call upon it to do a great deal of things, from (ces2018, Qualcomm ,)connecting our phone to masses of devices, to streaming music. In 2018, as earbuds and headphones get more technically capable, Bluetooth is going to have to work even harder to keep up. Qualcomm knows this, and the company is making things easier with a brand-new chip. The name — QCC5100 Series Bluetooth System-on-a-chip (SoC) — isn’t catchy, but you’re going to want to see it listed as a specification on any connected product you buy this year and onwards.

We sat down with Qualcomm to discover why the new Bluetooth chip is so exciting, and got a comprehensive overview of something that has been worked on for at least two years; You’ll never actually see this chip, so let’s first dive into the products Qualcomm has designed the new chip for, and its varied uses. Although we’re not fans of the word “hearables,” it does describe products that will really be enabled by the QCC5100. For example, true wireless in-ear earbuds with fitness tracking and always-on voice control, fast switching between audio and calls, active noise cancellation, hi-res streaming audio, and more. All possible with a battery life that’s not measured in minutes.
“In hearables, people want these features,” a spokesperson for Qualcomm told Digital Trends. “The QCC5100 moves the game forward.”

3 times the performance

The new chip has been designed entirely from the ground up, with no compromise in performance. Improvements come from a quad-core CPU, two 120Mhz digital sound processors (DSP), and two dedicated 80Mhz app processors. To understand what that means, Qualcomm revealed that the chips it effectively replaces had a single-core CPU and a single DSP. It has three times the performance of any other product available today, and twice the processing capacity.

“In hearables, people want these features. The QCC5100 moves the game forward.”

Built around Bluetooth 5, the chip is backwards compatible with older Bluetooth versions, and with all mobile chipsets out there, not just Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series. Does all this functionality mean the new Bluetooth chip is a power-muncher? No, the power consumption of the new chip has been slashed by a massive 65 percent. It’s really tiny too, with DACs, audio codecs, and even battery charging all integrated into the chip itself. That means it fits into tiny, discrete in-ear headphones and incorporates all desirable new features.
What kinds of features? Everything we mentioned earlier, and due to the quad-core architecture, more features can run at the same time. Active and effective noise cancellation using multiple microphones, AptX and AptX HD audio streaming, as well as sensors for tracking movement and fitness levels. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, always-on voice control and artificial intelligence that operates even when streaming audio. The microphones and voice user interface-specific hardware allows something called “barge-in,” where the device will recognize the wake word even when music is playing. The new chip’s connection system has been upgraded to strengthen the link between both earbuds in true wireless devices, and to the phone itself.

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Wireless earbuds

That’s an earbud that responds instantly to your voice, tracks your fitness when out running, streams hi-res audio, and cancels out noise when you want it to. At the same time, with a stronger connection to your phone. The QCC5100 will push development of brand new devices with features that were previously impossible to integrate and use together. But we know what you’re thinking: Battery life is done for, right?

Improved battery life

Qualcomm was prepared for this and has run many tests to establish just how much the QCC5100 improves battery life. Yes, we said improved. Qualcomm created two scenarios — the music listener and the mobile caller. In the first instance, a QCC5100-equipped device should return four hours of music playback, an hour of calls, and 1.5 hours of standby. That’s 25 percent more than average now, and an entire week of moderate use is possible using a charging case. Using the same device for three hours of calls will also mean 1.5 hours of music and 1.5 hours of standby. A massive 60 percent increase over current averages.

The team couldn’t believe the excellent battery tests.

Qualcomm’s engineers took us through a quick demonstration of the new chip, which was attached to meters showing current draw down around 5mA, a considerable reduction on the 15mA average it usually sees. One of the engineers told us the team couldn’t believe the excellent battery tests, and were genuinely surprised at the results, to the point where they repeatedly changed meters in case they were faulty. The results never changed.
We also had a demonstration of the QCC5100’s noise cancellation. In a room equipped with speakers simulating aircraft engine sound, the earbuds we used cut out the majority of the drone, way more effectively than we’re used to with noise canceling in-ears. We have high expectations for the finished product.
None of this will make a difference if the device the chipset lives in is poorly designed, so Qualcomm is lending its expertise to manufacturers that request it, and has also built three reference devices to show what’s possible. These are a pair of biometric sports wireless earbuds, wireless occluded earbuds, and Bluetooth sports earbuds connected by a short wire. Beyond that, Qualcomm advises on everything from where to place components for optimum antenna performance inside the device, to external microphone position for the active noise cancellation, and overall layout.
While hearables and other headphone designs are where the QCC1500 will work at its best, and the devices we’ll see it in first, it’s also adaptable to many other connected devices including speakers and soundbars. As voice control becomes more widely used and accepted, these Bluetooth devices will benefit from such a handy integrated chipset.
When will we start to see the first products using the new chip? Qualcomm says it has already got customers lined up, and expects the first products to be on sale by mid-2018.

Qualcomm has announced an integrated Bluetooth audio system on chip (SoC) that the company says will reduce power consumption and double processing power within small form factor audio products like wireless earbuds and headsets.

A prototype of biometric earbuds by Qualcomm.

The QCC5100 series has Bluetooth 5 dual-mode radio, low power audio and application subsystems, and integrated active noise cancellation (ANC) built in.
Qualcomm said the integrated chip is key to bringing down the price and size of wireless audio devices while also prolonging battery life.
Simply put, Qualcomm is aiming to form the foundation of wireless devices that can actually maintain battery life -- -- a major pain point for wireless tech users.
The consumer speaker market is seen as a high growth area for Qualcomm, particularly over the last few years, as companies like Apple have stripped the headphone jack from its next-generation iPhones.
In a briefing, Qualcomm's SVP of its voice and music business, Anthony Murray, noted that the QCC5100 series will open new possibilities for earbuds with biometric sensing, as well as augmented hearing and virtual assistant capabilities.
"As these products become smaller and more intelligent, users want to wear them for than just music or a phone call," Murray said. "This is driving a significant push in the power consumption and processing power that you need in such small form factors."

Qualcomm also made a bevy of partnership announcements during its Monday press conference. On the automotive side, the company said it's now working with Jaguar and Land Rover for powering the infotainment and telematic systems with Snapdragon.
Additionally, the company inked a partnership with Honda to power connected car technology in the 2018 Accord, and another with Chinese automaker BYD for upcoming vehicles to include a digital cluster powered by Snapdragon.
Qualcomm also announced flagship device partnerships with Google, HTC, LG, Sony and Samsung tied to its radio frequency front-end (RFFE) platform, as well as voice UI partnerships with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana.
Hugo Barra, VP of VR at Facebook, was on hand during the press event to talk about the Oculus Go headset that was announced last year. Barra said the standalone VR product is built on the Qualcomm mobile VR platform and will ship with the Snapdragon 821 chipset.
Xiaomi and Facebook are also teaming up for a brand new VR device, the Mi VR Standalone, built exclusively for the China market. It shares the core hardware with Oculus Go and supports the Oculus mobile SDK. Notably, this will allow existing VR developers to bring their VR content to Chinese consumers.

 

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• CNET's coverage: Every hot new gadget

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CES 2018: Qualcomm debuts Bluetooth SoC for wireless audio devices , II Tiny new Bluetooth chip is a big revolution for high-tech headphones , II Qualcomm Claims Its New Chip Will Triple Battery Life on Wireless Headphones