Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips for wearables, based on 4nm process and debuting in watches from Oppo and Mobvoi
The upgrade we've been waiting for is here. — What you need to know — Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon W5 platform for wearables.
Android CentralAndrew Myrick
Context & Ripple Effects
Qualcomm’s W5 generation follows the Snapdragon 4100 smartwatch refresh, which was itself framed as the first major update since 2018. Naming Oppo and Mobvoi as launch partners turns the new platform from a component announcement into an immediate device roadmap for two watch makers.
The later W5 Gen 2 refresh and Qualcomm’s subsequent 3nm Wear Elite announcement place W5 Gen 1 at the start of a sustained wearable-chip upgrade cycle, rather than a one-off revision.
First-order effects
Oppo and Mobvoi become the first named watch makers to bring Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon W5 and W5+ Gen 1 platforms to market.
Qualcomm gains a newer wearable platform after Snapdragon 4100, with its initial adoption tied to identifiable OEM launches.
Second-order effects
Oppo and Mobvoi’s launches give Qualcomm an early commercial reference point for pitching the W5 family to later smartwatch customers, shifting attention from the older 4100 generation to the new platform.
The shared W5 foundation makes Qualcomm’s platform cadence a common constraint on the two OEMs’ near-term wearable product timing.
Third-order effects
If Qualcomm continues the refresh pattern reflected in later W5 Gen 2 and Wear Elite releases, smartwatch makers will increasingly organize hardware upgrades around successive Qualcomm process-node and feature-platform transitions.
The trend: Wearable chips are moving into a regular platform-refresh cycle, with Qualcomm pairing new silicon generations to OEM watch launches.
@Mobile_Dom @Qualcomm Can't say I disagree, A53 is a ten-year-old core, and A55 and A510 are both faster and more power efficient, especially if used on a leading node which especially the A510 is designed for. Heck, even the W920 from Samsung uses an A55 on 5nm.
New @qualcomm #wearable silicon W5/W5+ is on a 4nm process node, is physically smaller, and W5+ has coprocessor for lower power mode. Google's WearOS will presumably fully support the new SoC (a problem with the Snapdragon 3100). That's the good news. https://www.qualcomm.com/...
The problem is that @Qualcomm is trying to serve a vertical market with a horizontal solution. Wrist wearables need tight integration between silicon, hardware, software, and phone OS. Vertical integration at the point of design is even better. Apple has that.
@anshelsag ... Hmmm....not investing in moving to newer Arm cores suggests to me - and I'm speculating here, not based on reporting - that they've got plans to do their own custom core work here...too bad Alex Katouzian doesn't seem to be on Twitter!
.@Qualcomm just announced its new wearable platform, which includes the W5 and W5+ which is similar to the previous generation 4100 and 4100+ whereas the + variant has a low-power co-processor for lower power consumption. Qualcomm has moved to 4nm for the W5, but still uses A53. …
Samsung has come close — though lacking access to the phone OS meant it needed to adopt Google's WearOS for app access. This is why Google's Pixel Watch has so much potential if it uses custom silicon and nails the use case. It took Apple a couple of generations to get it right.