ASR cellular IoT chip helps 360 children's watches access the Internet

Recently, 360's new W906 children's watch has successfully passed the network access test of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It uses the ALIOS operating system and is built on ASR's first ASR3601 CAT1 multi-mode cellular chip. As a new wearable device category that integrates security, entertainment and education in the intelligent Internet of Everything, the demand for children's smart watches has grown rapidly in the past two years. In this market, what kind of connection chips do users need? What new opportunities has ASR discovered in the broader cellular Internet of Things market behind it?

CAT1 gradually becomes a rigid demand in the market

The popularity of wearable devices continues to grow worldwide. According to the latest report released by Canalys, the global wearable wrist device market grew by 65% ​​in the third quarter of 2019. Greater China is still the region with the largest shipments, with 18.3 million units shipped, accounting for 40% of the world. At the same time, the fastest growing region for wearable devices is Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China), with a year-on-year growth of 130%. In terms of shipment volume, smartwatches have far exceeded smartphones in terms of shipment growth, and this trend is expected to continue for a long time in the future.

The HTF MI report points out that by 2025, children's smart watches will become an important global market. In fact, children's watches are just one part of the vast cellular IoT products. In addition to mobile phone users, there are more than 320 million IoT terminals connected, such as smart water/electricity meters, shared bicycles, smart door locks, pet tracking, and vehicle modules. In such a wide-area IoT, most terminals are low-speed connections with small data transmission volumes, and are almost all based on 2G/3G networks with wide coverage, low prices, and low power consumption.

As 5G is gradually put into commercial use, 4G and 5G networks will coexist for a period of time, while 2G and 3G networks will be weakened. After the IoT users originally carried by the 2G/3G network migrate to the LTE network, CAT1 and CAT4 can be used for support. In contrast, CAT1 has lower cost and power consumption, adapts to the current domestic 4G network, and is more suitable for industry applications that have high requirements for module cost, power consumption, communication delay and other capabilities, and are not very sensitive to speed. Therefore, the market is in urgent need of a cellular IoT chip with lower cost, support for a certain rate, excellent network coverage, and voice support, and the demand for CAT1 has emerged. However, the current cellular chips that support CAT1 are expensive and scarce. In addition, in addition to LTE CAT1, in the current market situation where multiple cellular IoT technologies such as 2G/3G/4G, NB-IoT, and eMTC coexist, a chip platform that is compatible with multiple cellular IoT technologies is very necessary. However, at present, there are few chips that support these network standards at the same time.

ASR has keenly tapped into the potential and launched the multi-mode 4G chip ASR3601, which supports FDD/TDD LTE CAT1 and is compatible with GSM networks. It supports VoLTE high-definition voice calls, has multiple formats, high performance, low power consumption, and integrated voice/video/photography and other multimedia functions. It can be used in children's watches, feature phones, POS machines, intercoms, smart speakers and other applications. At the same time, ASR3601 also supports two IoT technology standards, eMTC and NB-IoT, and is one of the few single chips in the world that covers all IoT standards. It is understood that ASR also has an ASR1601 chip based on this platform that has been optimized for low-speed IoT applications. This chip is suitable for various forms of IoT modules, trackers and smart hardware.

ASR opens up the cellular IoT technology layout

According to a recent report by Ericsson, the total number of cellular IoT connections will increase from 1.3 billion at the end of 2019 to 5 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 25%. In the face of huge business opportunities, ASR continues to advance its product layout in cellular IoT technology. Based on strong product R&D capabilities and an excellent baseband design team, ASR has launched the ASR1802 series supporting CAT4 and the ASR1826 series thin modem chips supporting CAT7 in the cellular market, which can meet the various needs of customers in both CAT4 and CAT7 specifications in the mainstream market.

The ASR1802 series can be widely used in civil, industrial and industry applications. For example, the data modules of some customers are used in POS machines, POC intercoms, and various water, electricity, and gas meters. The price-performance ratio is far superior to other similar products. At the same time, MiFi wireless mobile hotspots, data card dongles and other products not only meet the needs of domestic customers, but are also exported overseas, covering many regions around the world, and have obtained operator certification, with cumulative shipments exceeding 100 million. ASR1826 is an advanced, highly integrated, multi-standard modem SoC chip launched for the mid-to-high-end market, with target markets including security monitoring, power communications, CPE, industrial markets and other fields.

The launch of the ASR3601/ASR1601 series has further filled the gap in the market for CAT1, providing rich choices for feature phones and the IoT market that originally used GSM modules. Whether it is CAT1, CAT4, CAT7, or NB-IoT, eMTC, customers with different needs can find a chip platform that matches their needs in ASR's ever-increasing cellular technology camp.

ASR will build a bridge for 5G intelligent connectivity with its full core strength

With the advent of the 5G era, empowered by various networking technologies, it is foreseeable that everything from mobile phones, watches, home appliances, and various items around us to automobiles, industry, and cities will be integrated into the torrent of the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things and 5G are about to usher in a period of vigorous development, and there are many "bridges" to realize these intelligent connections of all things. Major chip manufacturers are aiming at this huge market cake in order to take the lead in the emerging technology competition.

ASR was founded in April 2015 with a registered capital of US$363 million. It was rated as a high-tech enterprise in 2018. Headquartered in Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, it has established branches in the United States, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dalian, Chengdu, Hefei, and Shenzhen, with nearly 800 employees worldwide. It is a platform company focusing on mobile intelligent communication terminal SoC, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, satellite navigation and other consumer electronic chip platforms. Its product line covers multi-standard communication standards including 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and IoT, providing complete system chip SoC solutions.

In the more than four years since its establishment, ASR has quickly emerged in the communications market. As one of the companies with the broadest coverage of IoT technology in China, entering the 5G era of intelligent interconnection of all things, I believe that ASR will move forward with its full "core" strength and build more interconnected technology bridges.