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Can QCOM's Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 for AI Wearables Drive Growth?

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Key Takeaways

  • QCOM introduced Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 for AI-enabled earbuds, headphones and wearables.
  • The platform doubles AI capability while cutting power consumption by up to 40% and footprint by 30%.
  • Qualcomm enables real-time translation, contextual assistance and personalized hearing with multimodal AI.

Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM - Free Report) has introduced the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 Platform, a new solution for intelligent audio wearables. It combines high-quality audio, on-device artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced connectivity, expanding the company’s presence in the growing AI-enabled wearable market.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 is designed for a wide range of products, including earbuds, headphones, open-ear devices, audio glasses and camera-enabled wearables. It delivers up to twice the AI capability of its predecessor while reducing power consumption by up to 40% and footprint by up to 30%. These improvements can help manufacturers develop more responsive and power-efficient devices.

The platform includes features such as Qualcomm aptX Lossless, XPAN, fifth-generation Active Noise Cancellation, cVc technology and the Snapdragon Audio Sense Solution. These technologies enhance sound quality, voice clarity and interactions with AI assistants across different environments. It also integrates micro-power Wi-Fi 6E for direct-to-cloud connectivity, allowing the wearables to access AI assistants, services and digital content.

The multimodal capabilities of the company’s latest solution can power applications like real-time translation, contextual assistance and personalized hearing. Its camera-enabled devices can gather context about the surrounding environment to deliver more responsive AI experiences. The launch advances Qualcomm’s efforts to bring intelligent computing and advanced connectivity to a broader range of next-generation wearable devices.

How Are Competitors Performing in the Wearable Industry?

Qualcomm faces competition from Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) . Apple expanded its wearable lineup with Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, Apple Watch SE 3 and AirPods 5. The company is adding AI and audio capabilities, including Siri AI, Audio Intelligence and Live Translation. Apple is enhancing health and fitness features, with its latest Apple Watch models offering higher-frequency heart-rate and HRV measurements and a new readiness score.

Alphabet is advancing its Pixel Watch and Wear OS ecosystem with new software and AI capabilities. The company introduced Pixel Watch 5 with Gemini Intelligence and updated Wear OS 7 with new glanceable features. Alphabet is expanding the Google Health app, which combines Fitbit data with other health information and includes a Gemini-powered Health Coach.

QCOM’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Qualcomm shares have gained 16.2% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 40.4%.

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Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 19.66 forward earnings, higher than 13.94 for the industry.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 have declined 2.2% to $10.55 over the past 60 days, while those for fiscal 2027 have also decreased 7.9% to $10.02.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Qualcomm stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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