A new Bluetooth chip from Broadcom is seeking to be in your next smartwatch or other connected wearable device. On Wednesday, the company announced the BCM20736, a Bluetooth Smart system-on-a-chip which is now available in samples to device makers. What makes this latest silicon different? It has built-in support for wireless device charging as well as wireless data. The new Broadcom chip is small enough to power a smartwatch for sure: It measures 6.5 x 6.5 millimeters. And it has a processor on board as well: An ARM Cortex M3 is at its core which also includes an integrated radio frequency and embedded Bluetooth Smart Stack. The wireless charging feature supports the Alliance 4 Wireless Power (A4WP) standard. Essentially, it’s an all-in-one low-power solution for building connected wearables that are simple to recharge.
