It seems that Qualcomm is preparing a SoC to give new lymph to the Wear OS smartwatches

Qualcomm could finally take the SOC segment seriously for smartwatches, definitely behind that of the chips for smartphones and tablets even in terms of detail and composition attention.

After a life of SOC dedicated to smartwatches based on SOC dated for smartphones, it seems that the US chipmaker is in fact working to a chip with ad hoc -made solutions and much more recent elements than those we find in the company’s most recent chip chips: to benefit from it, it could be the entire panorama wear OS. Let’s find out all the details that emerged.

The Wear OS smartwatch segment has been in stasis for a few years

From the point of view of the platform, the smartwatches with Wear OS have been experiencing a period of stasis for a long time, thanks to the lack of attention (at least compared to smartphones) that put the chip producers on the field.

Qualcommfor example, does not renew its soc for smartwatch since 2022, the year in which he launched the two Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 (known as SW5100), and the producers have therefore been “blocked” for some time on the same platform (see Google on the three generations of Pixel Watch)

One of the few companies that continue to do something in this sense is Samsung, protagonist in 2024 with the launch of theExynos W1000 3 Nm (successor of the Aystenos 930 at 4 Nm) that we find on the Galaxy Watch7 and Watch Ultra and which has also been confirmed on the Galaxy Watch8 and Watch8 Classic Fresh announcement.

Some rumors have recently leaked that suggest that Qualcomm is concretely working on a new SoC for smartwatches. Below we will analyze the leaked information but we anticipate that, if this chip concretized, it could finally give new life to the panorama of the wear OS smartwatch.

So far Qualcomm has adapted chips from other “worlds”

All SOCs for smartwatch made by the US chipmaker have so far been made starting from existing chips. In most cases they were smartphone chips of some previous generation, suitably modified and perhaps made with a more recent production process.

For example, chips Wear 2100, Wear 2500 And Wear 3100 at 28 Nm (TSMC) they were all based on Snapdragon 210 of 2014; The Wear 4100 at 12 Nm (TSMC) was based on Snapdragon 429 of 2018; the W5 Jan 1 And W5+ Gen 1 at 4 Nm (Samsung) are made on QCS2290 11 Nm (Samsung and Global Foundries), the only IoT chip (and not for smartphones) of the lot, released in 2021.

Another example of how you are not interested in smartwatches chips in Qualcomm can be sought in the covering cover QCC5100 of the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1: it uses a core ethos ML designed by Arm, Cadence’s DSP HIFI 5 and the NEMA GPU | Pico 2.5D of Think Silicon. All this, in order not to “strive” and exploit elements and components of which it already has in the catalog and which could safely be adapted to the use in a covering cover.

Qualcomm could finally be serious even for smartwatches

As anticipated, things could change. It seems that Qualcomm is working on a new SoC for Smartwatch with code SW6100 which, as a commercial name, could take Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 or, more likely, Snapdragon W6 Gen 1.

This SOC should be made by TSMC and, given the nature of the predecessor, at least with a 4 Nm production process (however with a 3 Nm production process it would undoubtedly be more current) which, compared to the old 4 Nm of Samsung, should improve significantly in optical consumption.

Three other details have also emerged on the SoC: it should support the type RAM memories LPDDR5X (against the predecessor LPDDR4), an additional improvement element (both on the consumption front and speed and readiness); It should enjoy a covering cover, called QCC6100, of which, however, no details have emerged.

In addition, it should be able to count on one Penta-core CPU (with Core Arm), consisting of a core Cortex-A78 and four cores Cortex-A55 (Configuration similar to Samsung’s Soynos W1000).

These are not the latest generation cores, it is true, but compared to what is available on the most recent chip, it would still be a significant leap forward, especially if we consider that the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 has a quad-core CPU with Cortex-A53 (dating back to 2012): the transition to the most recent Cortex-A55 would give efficiency improvements; The addition of a Cortex-A78 would give a great push.

It is not yet clear when this chip will be officially presented but a little more time could pass: in the event that it should come into production shortly, the chances of seeing it on board at least one Wear OS smartwatch would rise by the end of 2026.