Recently, many friends have asked me
which OEM manufacturers for smartwatches are good? Is there a ranking recommendation?
As someone who has been in the smart watch chip industry for many years
I want to tell everyone that choosing an OEM manufacturer should not only look at the ranking
but also consider product positioning and actual needs
Especially in areas with high technical requirements, such as outdoor sports trajectory optimization
Today, I will share a real case with you
In Shenzhen, there is a Mr. Chen who makes outdoor sports smartwatches
His brand focuses on professional mountaineering and hiking scenarios, but users criticized it as “garbage”
The most intense user feedback was the multi-sensor data synchronization delay
In complex environments like forests and canyons
the single-frequency GPS signal often “malfunctions”, causing the trajectory to drift significantly
Altitude data fluctuates several meters per second, and the step frequency statistics during climbing are 50% faster than actual
Heart rate monitoring also suddenly “crashes”
Mr. Chen’s team tried to use a public version solution, thinking it was “cost-effective”
As a result, in extreme scenarios like snow mountains and heavy rain
the watch’s battery life plummeted from the advertised 10 hours to 2 hours
Sensors frequently malfunctioned in low temperatures
A mountaineering team almost got lost using their watches
Upon returning, they directly canceled a 5000-unit order, resulting in losses exceeding one million
Mr. Chen took many detours in choosing a smartwatch OEM manufacturer
Until he saw someone mention me in an industry group chat
stating that I had “solved tough problems with outdoor sports chips”
He reached out with a trial-and-error mindset
and got my contact information through a group friend
The first thing he said was: “Can you save my watch?”
Seeing his anxious expression, I promised to visit his company in a few days
Upon arriving at Mr. Chen’s company, I went directly to his R&D department.
After an hour of investigation, I found the root cause
The OEM used a low-end single-frequency chip with weak anti-interference capability
The sensor fusion algorithm was a public version “generic product”, not optimized for sports scenarios
Power management was also crude, with the battery lasting less than 4 hours in full-on mode
“This is like putting a tractor engine in a sports car
It can run but not fast, and it definitely won’t run far,” I analyzed with Mr. Chen
Considering Mr. Chen’s product’s professional outdoor positioning
I recommended a customized solution of “dual-frequency five-star positioning + AI dynamic optimization”
and connected him with an OEM manufacturer specializing in outdoor sports
Optimizing the entire link from chips to algorithms
We selected a dual-frequency chip that supports BeiDou + GPS + Galileo
which can automatically switch to the best signal in forests and high-rise buildings
Positioning accuracy improved from 10 meters to within 1 meter
At the same time, we upgraded to a nine-axis sensor and used hardware synchronization clock technology
to compress multi-sensor data delay from 200 milliseconds to under 20 milliseconds
The data “conflict” issue was resolved
We also developed a motion scene recognition engine
that analyzes the motion characteristics of 12 types of scenes such as mountaineering, hiking, and cross-country through machine learning
automatically switching the sensor fusion algorithm
Mr. Chen found a new OEM manufacturer based on my provided solution to restart production
His watch became a “favorite” among professional players
Mountaineering teams and outdoor clubs actively sought cooperation
Last month, he just delivered 20,000 customized watches to a client in Tibet
With a single order profit exceeding 3 million
Which OEM manufacturer for smartwatches is good?
Indeed, the solutions from big companies like Apple, Realtek, and Qualcomm are mature
But in niche areas like outdoor sports
OEM manufacturers that can provide customized chips + algorithms + scene adaptation are more trustworthy
If you are facing similar issues as Mr. Chen
feel free to reach out to me xt99kk to chat