Manufacturers of Wear OS watches have always been limited with the technology they can use inside them, but a new report suggests there may soon be a significant step up in the processor technology available.
Qualcomm - the manufacturer of the Snapdragon Wear 2100 and 3100 in current Wear OS watches - is said to be working on two new wearable chipsets, according to a report from WinFuture.
The two new chipsets are reportedly in the 'Equipment Verification Testing' stage, so they're unlikely to be on the market anytime soon. They're apparently codenamed WTP2700 and WTP429W.
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They are rumored to be launching as the Snapdragon Wear 2700 and Snapdragon Wear 429 respectively, and it's thought the latter is a reworked version of the existing Snapdragon 429 chipset. That's used in a variety of mobile phones, including the Nokia 3.2 and Alcatel 3L (2019).
If that's the case, the most exciting element may be that the Snapdragon 429 has 64-bit support, which is something we haven't seen on Wear OS devices in the past.
That may mean the new wearables that use it will be more compatible with recent software, and it may make it easier for developers to cater to the platform, considering many use 64-bit for mobile platforms.
The report claims the Snapdragon Wear 429 may sport four Cortex-A53 cores too, which would be another upgrade on the current best Snapdragon Wear chipset.
It's also thought this upgraded chipset may allow for faster storage - the Snapdragon 429 chipset on phones supports EMMC 5.1 tech - so the wearable version may allow you to access data on your device even faster than on current watches.
A significant improvement
According to the report, Qualcomm is testing the technology with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, which is more than we've seen on most existing smartwatches.
The platform will also likely support Bluetooth 5.0 technology as well as LTE connectivity. It's also set to be more power efficient, as it apparently uses a 12nm process, compared to the Snapdragon Wear 3100's 28nm.
This is all just rumored for now, but it makes sense that Qualcomm would be hard at work on a new chipset, and reworking an existing phone one sounds like a smart approach.
We don't know an exact date of when we'll see the new Snapdragon Wear debut, but we wouldn't expect it until at least 2020, making it very unlikely we'll see it on upcoming watches such as the Fossil Sport 2.
Perhaps it will be the new tech that will finally debut on the eventual Google Pixel Watch? Only time will tell.
Via 9To5Google
