Qualcomm is making smarter security cameras

Qualcomm unveiled recently a platform for Snapdragon 618 IP cameras, which is meant to help manufacturers create “more powerful and intelligent professional security cameras” by utilizing Qualcomm’s ARM-based system on a chip. The company is hoping that other companies will find value in equipping cameras with its system and six-core, 64-bit processor capable of moving certain video analytics done on computers and servers, like facial recognition, to the cloud and to the camera itself. The company believes that these camera-based analytics are more reliable.

The design offered up by Qualcomm includes an LTE radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, Ethernet and Bluetooth 4.1. These specifications alone would make it a midrange smartphone on today’s market, but the impressive camera features help it stand out. The system is capable of recording 4K video in either H.264 or HEVC, which reduce bandwidth usage by as much as 50 percent, according to the company. It can also take 21MP photos.

The said camera system is just Qualcomm’s latest move to solidify itself in the IoT market. Last year, the company released an IoT development kit, and this year it finished its acquisition of CSR, a chip maker that had focused in part on the automobile industry, and partnered with LIFX to design smart lighting. These bets will take time to pay off the way Qualcomm hopes. The first cameras using its new system won’t be available until next year and so far the platform is only available to select OEMs.