Next Snapdragon Chip for Wear OS Promises Better Battery, Performance and New Core Design

Highlights

• The upcoming Snapdragon chip for Wear OS is possibly named W5 Gen 2 or W6 Gen 1 and will use TSMC’s fabrication process.
• The chip will feature DDR5 memory and a new core setup, 1x Cortex-A78 + 4x Cortex-A55, replacing decade-old designs.
• The chip isn’t in production yet and will likely arrive only in 2026.

Qualcomm is working on a brand-new Snapdragon chip for Wear OS smartwatches and according to a fresh report, it could bring some big upgrades.

Over the years, Qualcomm has launched multiple chips for Wear OS watches, but many of them struggled with performance or arrived late. The Snapdragon W5 series, released in 2022, was a much-needed improvement, but we’ve heard little about its successor since then.

Now, thanks to a report from Android Authority, we have a better idea of what Qualcomm is planning next. The new chip is possibly called W5 Gen 2 or W6 Gen 1 and is still in development, but there are three big changes coming with it.

The upcoming chip will reportedly be made using TSMC’s fabrication process, instead of Samsung’s. That change alone could result in better battery life, as TSMC is known for more power-efficient chip manufacturing.

Qualcomm is also upgrading the memory to DDR5, which is slightly more efficient. This could lead to better overall performance and responsiveness in Wear OS smartwatches.

Perhaps the biggest upgrade comes in the chip’s core design. The new chip will feature a 1x Arm Cortex-A78 core and 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores. This replaces much older CPU designs, some of which date back more than a decade. While these aren’t the absolute newest cores available, they’re still a solid step forward.

The report says the chip is not yet in production, so we probably won’t see it in smartwatches anytime soon. That means Google’s upcoming Pixel Watch 4 is expected to stick with the current Snapdragon W5 chip.

In any case, the fact that a new and more powerful Snapdragon chip is on the way is promising news. It seems we are on our way to seeing longer battery life, better performance, and more modern hardware in future Wear OS smartwatches.

FAQs

Q1. What improvements are expected in Qualcomm’s next Snapdragon chip for Wear OS?

Answer. The upcoming chip will reportedly be made using TSMC’s fabrication process, which could result in better battery life, and will feature DDR5 memory for improved performance and responsiveness.

Q2. What is the new core configuration in the next-gen Snapdragon chip?

Answer. The chip will feature a 1x Arm Cortex-A78 core and 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores, replacing much older CPU designs and offering a solid step forward in smartwatch performance.

Q3. Will the new Snapdragon chip be available in smartwatches soon?

Answer. The report says the chip is not yet in production, so we probably won’t see it in smartwatches anytime soon. The Pixel Watch 4 is expected to stick with the current Snapdragon W5 chip.

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