Qualcomm announces new levels of support for Google Assistant on its Smart Headset platform

As Google I/O 2019 draws to a close today (May 9, 2019), Qualcomm has unveiled support for Google Fast Pair and Google Assistant on its Smart Headset hardware platform. This is the QCC5100 series of up-to-date low-power Bluetooth audio chips. Their new level of support may help OEMs make their next generation of earphones increasingly compatible with Google voice-assistant features and functions, perhaps particularly on new Android phones.

Qualcomm's support for Google Fast Pair may optimize state-of-the-art earphone bells and whistles such as out-of-box pairing. The QCC5100-series end-to-end reference design also allows for interfaces such as physical buttons and other intuitive controls. Qualcomm silicion (the QCC5100 chips, as well as the QCC3024 and QCC3034 SoCs) are also described as generally high-quality audio processors that can easlity handle switching between multiple devices.

This technology is available to OEMs in the form of Qualcomm development kits. These, as the chip-maker asserts, allows for the easy synthesis of a custom kit, or their inclusion into a unique form-factor that can support features such as Google Assistant activation. Thus, Qualcomm argues, individual companies should be able to design, market and sell their next headsets quickly and easily.