Is it hitting a bottleneck or the darkness before dawn? Let's talk about smartwatch chips.

As is well known, Google will soon release a series of new products, including the Pixel 10 series of smartphones. Just recently, a large amount of product - related information about the new smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 4, was exposed.

From this information, the biggest improvement of Google's new smartwatch lies in the use of a new screen. It is reported that the peak brightness of its screen can reach 3000 nits, 50% higher than the previous generation. Meanwhile, the Pixel Watch 4 may also have added a "cardiac arrest" detection algorithm, showing progress in health - monitoring related functions.

Besides these, Google's new smartwatch is somewhat disappointing in most of its hardware specifications. It has neither a new design nor any innovative sensors.

Worst of all, the Pixel Watch 4 doesn't seem to have any upgrade at the main - control level. It is reported that, like the previous two generations (Pixel Watch 2 and 3), it continues to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 solution. And from the exposed typical battery life of only 40 hours, it is obvious that it doesn't adopt the "dual - engine" technology (i.e., integrating another low - power main control) similar to OPPO's smartwatch to save power.

For this reason, although Google's new smartwatch has not been released yet, there are almost all negative comments and disappointment in the overseas market.

From the consumers' perspective, with three consecutive generations of products using the same main control, four generations without a design change, and no unique sensor technology, it's only "deserved" for this "Google smartwatch" to be criticized.

But is it Google's fault? Maybe not. As we all know, they actually have no choice. As long as Samsung doesn't sell their Exynos W1000 (3nm GAA process, 1*A78 + 4*A55) externally, the best main - control solution available for the current "Android smartwatch" camp is indeed only the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 (4nm process, 4*A53).

Fortunately, this embarrassing situation will see a huge turn in one or two years at the earliest. According to what we at San Yi Life have learned, there are at least four newly - designed smartwatch main controls "on the way", and some of them may even meet us soon.

The Snapdragon W5+ Gen1 has made great progress compared to the previous generation, but it is now outdated.

First of all, there is naturally the Snapdragon W5 Gen2. According to the currently exposed information, it will probably use a 3nm process and be equipped with a CPU combination similar to the Exynos W1000, which is 1*A78 + 4*A55. In terms of the GPU, it will of course be upgraded to the more energy - efficient Adreno 800 series architecture.

Obviously, compared with the current Snapdragon W5 Gen1, the Snapdragon W5 Gen2 is expected to significantly improve the smoothness of new Android smartwatches, and its higher performance also means it can support more complex health - monitoring algorithms, such as more accurate sports statistics, more chronic disease monitoring and early warning, etc.

Secondly, although Google's new watch this year is a bit "underwhelming" in terms of hardware, they have long been reported to be developing a self - developed smartwatch main control for the next - generation product. It is reported that this leaked information comes from an internal document of Google's gChips team, which shows that the code name of this main control is "NPT".

According to the rumors at that time, this self - developed Google smartwatch main control contains one large Cortex - A78 core and at least two small Cortex - A55 cores. However, it should be noted that this information was exposed in 2023, so it's possible that Google will revise their self - developed smartwatch main control after seeing the new solutions from Samsung and Qualcomm.

This is not the end. In 2023, when the information about Google's self - developed smartwatch main control was leaked, Qualcomm and Google also jointly issued a statement about the technical information of the next - generation Wear OS ecosystem.

At that time, Qualcomm announced that they would launch a wearable device solution based on the RISC - V architecture, and Google would ensure that the Wear OS system and software ecosystem could be compatible with this new instruction set and architecture system. It should be noted that some previous information shows that Qualcomm has actually used a small RISC - V - based core as an internal control unit in their smartphone Snapdragon platform, so they may not be unfamiliar with this new architecture.

But the most "core" part of this statement actually reminds us that so far, the reason why the hardware in the Wear OS ecosystem is generally backward may be that as a "simplified system" specifically for smartwatches, it may itself limit the compatible hardware architectures. This also explains why even the latest released and upcoming smartwatch main controls have "coincidentally" chosen the relatively old architecture like A78 + A55 instead of the more high - performance and energy - efficient A725 + A520v2. To put it simply, it's not that they can't be made, but they all have to wait for Google to improve the operating system.

Since we already know that the future Wear OS may no longer be "tied" to a few ARM public - version hardware architectures, it leads to the last possibility: Is it possible for domestic manufacturers to "overtake on a curve" by relying on self - developed smartwatch main controls?

Looking at the current domestic market, there are actually quite a few manufacturers that have a history of self - developed chips and have also made high - end Wear OS full - featured smartwatches. For example, Huawei, OPPO, and Xiaomi have all been involved in Wear OS full - featured smartwatches (OPPO uses customized Android in China and Wear OS overseas) and have the ability to develop self - developed chips. Among them, Huawei and Xiaomi have even successfully developed low - power main controls for "light - smart watches" with relatively low specifications.

Of course, in terms of process and architecture, the requirements of full - featured smartwatches are much higher than those of light - smart watches. But if you have read our San Yi Life's previous test and analysis of the Xiaomi Watch S4 eSIM 15th - anniversary limited edition, the article "From Being 'Shelved' for Half a Year to a Low - Key Release: Talking about the Experience and Significance of Xuanjie T1", you will find that the "Xuanjie T1" SoC used in this light - smart watch by Xiaomi actually far exceeds the requirements of the common "low - power main control for light - smart watches" in some technical indicators (especially the main frequency, integrated baseband, and integrated video codec unit).

For this reason, we proposed at that time that it might be the prelude for Xiaomi to "aim high" in the domestic smartwatch market with self - developed chips. Of course, at that time, we also thought that if the Wear OS itself limited the main - control architecture, the problem would be difficult to solve. But now it seems that this biggest "obstacle" may be removed by Google itself. In this way, it may really open the "door" for manufacturers like Xiaomi that want to make high - end full - featured smartwatches with self - developed chips.

This article is from the WeChat official account "San Yi Life" (ID: IT - 3eLife), written by San Yi Jun, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.