Compared with the Apple Watch , the hardware used by the Wear OS camp is not so timely. Qualcomm’s current flagship Snapdragon Wear 4100 series has been launched for two years, and it’s almost time to come up with a successor. 

The Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips that debuted today are significantly improved compared to their predecessors, with a process jump from 12nm to 4nm. They are also equipped with quad-core 1.7GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and Adreno 702 GPU and support 2,133MHz memory body.

The difference between the two models is that the W5 Gen 1 basically only has the main SoC part described above, while the W5+ Gen 1 will add a 22nm W1 AON co-processor to this. It is based on the Cortex-M55 architecture and integrates functions such as Bluetooth 5.3. Deep sleep and low-power hibernation are achieved by it. In addition, there is a “low power island” in the main SoC, which allows the watch to call audio, navigation, Wi-Fi and other functions without waking up other components.

According to Qualcomm, watches using W5+ Gen 1 can increase the battery life by 50% compared to products based on the Wear 4100 series. And the new process also brings greater flexibility to the design. After the chip size is reduced by 30%, manufacturers are expected to make thinner and lighter watches. 

In terms of positioning, the W5+ Gen 1 is obviously aimed at smart watches equipped with Wear OS, while the W5 Gen 1 is more suitable for children’s watches, medical devices, or for use with collaborative chips developed by watch manufacturers .

It is reported that Oppo will launch the Oppo Watch 3 series with W5 Gen 1 in August, while Mobvoi will bring the first W5+ Gen 1 watch this fall. In addition, the number of watches that have been determined to use the new processor has reached 25, but the specific brand and model will wait for further news for the time being.