Samsung’s Next-Gen Smartwatch Chip Could Be a Game-Changer for Wear OS

Good information for these of you who’re eagerly ready to see what’s new for Android smartwatches. According to a brand new SamMobile report, Samsung’s next-gen Wear OS units can be powered by a beefy new chip known as the Exynos W920—and at the least on paper, the good points are promising.

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. The Exynos W920 will reportedly be 1.25 instances quicker, with 1.5GB of RAM and eight.8 instances the graphic efficiency in comparison with the Exynos 9110, the chip that’s powered each Samsung smartwatch because the Galaxy Watch. SamMobile additionally says Samsung particularly created this chip for the brand new Wear, a unified platform that mashes collectively one of the best bits of Tizen OS and the outdated Wear OS. Just wanting on the numbers, that is huge. No Wear OS watch at present in the marketplace has greater than 1GB of RAM, and the overwhelming majority are nonetheless working on last-gen processors.

These specs dovetail with a rumor we heard in May from leaker Ice Universe, who claimed the brand new Samsung watches would sport a 5nm processor. But hasn’t Wear OS’s issues been largely about uncared for software program and incremental updates? Well, to an extent, sure. However, one other huge downside has been that, till now, practically all Wear OS watches have been powered by Qualcomm’s lackluster Snapdragon Wear platform. The Snapdragon Wear chips have at all times used extremely outdated processor tech, placing it far behind Samsung’s Exynos and Apple’s S-series processors. That in flip led to a chicken-and-egg state of affairs. No matter what software program updates Google would push out, they might at all times be considerably hamstrung by the Snapdragon Wear chips.

For years Wear OS languished on the Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip, which was constructed on 28nm course of tech. This was course of node tech that was outdated by 22nm in 2012. That’s two years earlier than the primary Wear OS—then Android Wear—smartwatches ever confirmed up. The Snapdragon Wear platform didn’t get a significant replace till 2018, when Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform. While it added a co-processor, this chip was additionally based mostly on 28nm tech. In 2018, each Apple and Samsung had moved on to 7nm and 10nm course of tech, respectively. Last June, Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform, which promised to spice up processing energy from 28nm… to 12nm. While that’s a major increase, it’s nonetheless tech that’s a number of generations behind. In 2021, there are nonetheless only two Wear OS smartwatches that use Qualcomm’s 4100 platform: Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3 and the TicWatch Pro 3 LTE.

This is a giant motive why Wear OS smartwatches usually felt laggy compared to Samsung’s Tizen OS watches, Apple Watches, and fewer power-intensive Fitbits. It’s additionally why marquee options like LTE connectivity and sleep-monitoring took so lengthy to make their technique to Wear OS {hardware}.

So the truth that the first smartwatches to function the brand new unified platform can be powered by chips utilizing present course of tech? That’s value noting. It’s completely not a assure that the brand new platform can be excellent, or that it received’t have rising pains to beat. However, it’s at the least giving this fledging platform an opportunity to start out off on one of the best foot attainable.

When Samsung and Google formally introduced their collaboration, Gizmodo requested if it was attainable that Samsung would possibly license its processor tech to different corporations within the house. At the time, Samsung declined to remark. It’s very attainable that it received’t and that this beefy processor will solely work on Samsung watches. However, if it does make its technique to different smartwatches, that may be enormous. And even when it doesn’t, proving that the brand new Wear OS might be nice on present {hardware} would possibly give Qualcomm a kick in the butt to cease dragging its toes on updating its Snapdragon Wear platform. Or, who is aware of? Perhaps it would encourage different distributors to experiment with their very own SoC and bypass Qualcomm totally.

Whatever finally ends up occurring, a succesful processor that may showcase Wear OS’s precise potential is lengthy overdue—and it’s motive to hope that Google and Samsung are severe about this new enterprise succeeding.