How Qualcomm’s Newest Asset Tracker Proves Integration Through Strategic Partnership Is the Key to Unlocking Usability and Scale in the IoT

Qualcomm’s QTS112 Thin Tracker came to market at the start of 2025, and is the latest and slimmest in a range of general-purpose asset trackers pre-integrated with Qualcomm’s Aware platform. The QTS112 is designed to be lightly and inconspicuously attached to other assets, or slipped into packages. The out-of-the-box Aware integration provides device and sensor configuration for the user, over the air firmware updates, and real-time reporting of data. The QTS112 contains Qualcomm’s QCX216 Long Term Evolution (LTE) Cat-1bis modem that, even though it is not a Low-Power Wide Area (LPWA) chipset, can be run with low-enough power consumption to guarantee the transmission of  500 periodic updates from one 200 Milliampere-Hour (mAh) battery charge,  programmed to either regularly occur or occur only when an event triggers it.

At 86 Millimeters (mm) long, 56 mm wide, and 3.5 mm thick, the less than 17 cubic centimeter QTS112 tracker includes a sensor package that will monitor time, location, temperature, pressure, humidity, and ambient light. These raw data can be interpreted through algorithms to identify motion, motion state change, impact, and flight mode detection, as well as changes in temperature and light. The QCX216 modem includes Wi-Fi Scan, and cellular network signal strength-based positioning via Qualcomm’s own carrier cell site database. But as compact and capable as the hardware package is, the killer feature of the QTS112 is the embedding of the service of connectivity through an integrated Subscriber Identify Module (iSIM) and global Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners.

There are two variants of the QTS112, an “EU” European model and a “GL” global model, featuring different LTE band support. The GL is also 2 mm longer and 2 grams heavier to accommodate the extra antennas needed. The ambient light sensor is also only available in the GL model. Two connectivity providers are in place in 1nce, and floLIVE. Both are renowned for their innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT), despite being relatively new entrants; 1nce in 2018, and floLIVE with floNET in 2022. Connectivity is also enabled at any time through the use of an SGP.32-enabled embedded SIM (eSIM) Operating System (OS), supplied by Thales. 1nce announced its version of the QTS112 with global connectivity in May 2025, with the floLIVE and Thales-based offering announced in June.

Nothing related to the QTS112 is new, per se, so why does it matter? Cat-1bis was standardized in The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 13 in 2016, at the same time as Cat-M and Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), as an evolution of LTE Cat-1 from Release 8 way back in 2008. On-demand remote provisioning and re-provisioning of cellular network authentication was specified by the GSMA in the form of SGP.02 in 2013, even though the SGP.32 process is much newer and more usable by the IoT. And global connectivity through a single SIM and service provider has existed since the launch of landmark IoT MVNO Jasper Wireless in 2004. But only now are all these elements coming together with equal availability, affordability, and usability to make their complementary, combined use a mass market reality.

Asset tracking has been lauded as one of the volume growth applications for the IoT, often believed to be on the verge of explosive uptake. It was hoped that consumer IoT trackers would drive the market. The thought was that inexpensive, general-purpose trackers would be sold off-the-shelf by wireless carriers in their retail and online shops, so that private customers could swap between whatever items of value and importance they wanted to secure the location of. But the usual problem with cellular consumer IoT reared its head, namely the need to pay for tracker tariff plans. Perhaps trackers could be added to family share plans, or used to compel their uptake, but outside of the United States, share plans are rarely considered a good deal or as attractive to customers.

Asset tracking for the enterprise is where the true volume lies, in environments where they provide guarantees of business outcomes that affect a company’s bottom line; to know that their customers have received the products and services they are due, on time, on target, and in perfect order. The smaller and the more affordable that trackers are, the greater the variety, the lower the value, and the higher the volume of asset they can be applied to. The exclusive distributor of the Qualcomm QTS112 with 1nce’s embedded connectivity is Embedded Works. It sells the tracker hardware for US$42.85 with a 12-, 24-, or 36-month subscription to the Qualcomm Aware platform for US$49, US$90, US$129, respectively—an incremental monthly discount of 8% and 4%.

It is the Qualcomm Aware platform that delivers the cellular connectivity and device management. Aware is the glue that binds together and packages the fundamental enabling hardware discussed into an end-to-end enterprise service. The enterprise’s subscription to Aware is not a data tariff; it is a connectivity, cloud computing, device management, and data reporting plan. Modular extensions can be added; for example, the TrackingForLess telematics dashboard and extensions can come from Qualcomm or its strategic IoT service partners. MVNO floLIVE first partnered to integrate its services into Aware to use Qualcomm as a channel for the sale of its IoT connectivity in September 2023, and more partners are expected in the future.

The IoT has always been a market of core competencies; no one company can do it all, it requires the individual expertise of varied specialists to be brought together. And it’s the speed and effectiveness of this integration that allows enterprises and municipalities to validate Proofs of Concept (POCs), to prove Return on Investment (ROI), and to scale their digital transformation confidently and intelligently. The macro pain point is that the IoT can be a slow burn, and technology suppliers need to be willing to commit to stay in it for the long term. It has certainly been the case that large multinationals and hyperscalers have rushed to serve the IoT, and to buy up specialist expertise with expectations of rapid returns, only to be frustrated and to withdraw.

Although not the winner, the Qualcomm Aware QTS112 Thin Tracker with Global Connectivity was a contender for the “Best IoT and Connectivity Solution” in 2025’s “Best of Sensors Awards” in June. Qualcomm occupies a natural nodal point to help bring things together for the IoT. Its bread and butter is the smartphone market, which accounted for 75% of its semiconductor turnover in 2024, and this is unlikely to change. But Qualcomm has a need to reinforce the value of its chipset shipments, and its market share, with recurring revenue streams and support services. This is especially true as IoT chipsets only scale with increasing commoditization, risking more volume, but with relatively little extra revenue. Qualcomm baseband modems are found in 75% of all models of cellular module for the IoT, and this is a dominance that is worth keeping, as well as building incremental opportunities upon.

The question remaining for Qualcomm, its customers, and its competitors is does Qualcomm really want to be an IoT device OEM? The QTS112 follows on from the QTS110, so it is not a one-off, but is part of a of a small family of Aware-based devices. Manufacturing asset trackers risks putting Qualcomm into direct competition with its own OEM customers. This naturally suggests that Qualcomm’s devices are intended as a best practice case study to showcase to OEMs how to do things, and to encourage customers to not just buy Qualcomm chipsets, but to design devices based on the Aware platform. This brings to mind Google’s Nexus smartphones from 2010, which were not really meant to compete with Samsung—yet, this also reminds us of today’s Pixel range, which categorically does. IoT device OEMs should seek assurances from Qualcomm, but they should also be wary.