Smart Wearables
Recently, the domestic smart wearable market, including smartwatches and fitness bands, has become quite complex. However, broadly speaking, the products can be categorized into several types based on their functions: smartwatches designed for business professionals; location and emergency medical watches for children, the elderly, and other special groups; and fitness bands or sports watches for active individuals, which may include features such as heart rate monitoring, step counting, blood oxygen measurement, and music playback.
As the functionalities of these devices increase, the demand for storage chip capacity in smartwatches is growing. These devices need storage to hold music, videos, GUI interfaces, user data, and more. For example, a typical MP3 file is around 3-5MB, so storing 20 songs would require about 100MB of space, not including space needed for the operating system, GUI interface, etc. In this case, traditional NOR Flash simply cannot meet the needs. Additionally, smartwatches, due to their high integration, have very strict requirements for the size of the components.
So, how can we choose a storage solution that offers large capacity and small size for a smart wearable? Currently, there are a few possible options:
Option 1: Use TF card as external storage. However, this option has the following drawbacks:
a) Too large in size: The TF card and its card slot require 13x15mm of space, which is too much for the limited space available on a smartwatch.
b) TF card slot is a structural component: During use, the TF card can easily fall out.
c) TF card cannot be surface-mounted: It can only be manually assembled, leading to low production yield and a higher risk of defects.
d) Large mold opening: This makes it difficult to create waterproof products.
e) TF cards, especially low-capacity ones, have inconsistent quality: The quality of one batch can be very different from the next, making it unreliable.
Option 2: Use eMMC for storage.
This is the approach taken by major international manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei. Below is an internal teardown image of Huawei's GT2, which uses a Toshiba eMMC with a size of 11.5x13mm.
For domestic customers, there are also some issues with using eMMC on smartwatches:
A) Lack of support from major component manufacturers: Without the backing of major hardware companies or a hardware expert, it's very difficult to fit an 11.5x13mm eMMC onto such a small board.
B) eMMC has too large a capacity: Many customers only need 128MB or 512MB of storage. However, eMMC typically starts at 8GB. For manufacturers without brand premiums, the high cost of eMMC is a significant challenge.
C) Soldering is troublesome: Smartwatch PCBs are already quite crowded, and adding a 153-ball component increases pressure on both assembly factories and maintenance personnel.
To address the shortcomings of the solutions above, CS (CS Semiconductor)'s SD NAND is a perfect solution:
Small size: With a 6x8mm package, it takes up only 1/3 of the space of eMMC and 1/4 of the space of a TF card.
Fewer pins, easy to solder: The LGA-8 package makes both surface-mount and manual soldering convenient.
Appropriate capacity: Available in 128MB, 512MB, and 4GB capacities, customers can choose the capacity that fits their needs, helping to reduce costs.
Stable performance: Uses the most stable SLC NAND Flash, with an erase-write cycle life of 5-10 million cycles. In comparison, the mainstream NAND chips in TF cards and eMMC typically use TLC NAND, with an erase-write cycle life of around 500 cycles.
Easy to use: Compatible with the SD protocol. As long as the customer’s CPU supports the SD interface, CS SD NAND can be used without the need for additional drivers.
It is clear that CS SD NAND has great application prospects in smartwatches and fitness bands, and it can help customers solve many real-world problems. Currently, Leilong has launched matching test boards, test sockets, and free samples for SD NAND. We welcome everyone to inquire for more information.
