Samsung’s next Galaxy Watch is getting Qualcomm’s new 3nm chip
At MWC 2026, Samsung confirmed something many Galaxy Watch watchers didn’t see coming. The next Galaxy Watch will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite, a 3nm chip, and it will be the first time that Samsung has included Snapdragon silicon in its main Galaxy Watch line. This news was confirmed by InKang Song, Samsung’s EVP and Head of Technology Strategy.
What is Snapdragon Wear Elite?
Snapdragon Wear Elite is Qualcomm’s latest wearable chip, built on the 3nm process and designed specifically for Wear OS devices. It sits above the older Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2, and on paper the gap is significant.
Qualcomm claims up to 5x faster CPU performance and up to 7x faster GPU performance compared to its predecessor. The CPU clock speed is up to 2.1 GHz, with a main structure of one processing core and four efficient cores.
Memory and storage get a decent upgrade as well. The chip supports LPDDR5 memory running at up to 6,400 MHz, and up to 32GB eMMC storage. All of this is a very strong foundation for a modern smart watch.
The story of AI
Everything seems to be about Ayi these days. And the story is no different here.
Qualcomm relies on on-device AI more than any previous wearable chip. The Snapdragon Wear Elite features a dedicated Hexagon NPU alongside a second low-power eNPU, making this the first Snapdragon wearable chip to feature a proper Hexagon NPU at all. It can handle models with up to 2 billion parameters and deliver about 10 tokens per second.
Essentially, that translates into things like smart replies, text summaries, AI fitness training, noise cancellation, and task and keyword recognition, all processed locally on the device. Whether any of these turn out to be really useful features or just dots on a sheet of paper will largely depend on what Samsung and Google do on the software side.
Battery and power
Battery life is where most people’s attention will naturally come. Qualcomm claims up to a 30 percent improvement in usage days compared to the previous generation.
The chip achieves this in part by using dedicated low-power islands that handle audio, sensors, display, and eNPU independently, meaning background tasks can run concurrently without waking up the main CPU. Fast charging is also supported, with a 50 percent charge in about 10 minutes.
Thirty percent is a good number on paper, but Galaxy Watch users have heard promising promises before. The Exynos W1000 in the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra is also a 3nm chip, and battery life on those devices was decent but not class-leading. The real test will be whether Samsung’s software decisions and battery capacity allow the Snapdragon Wear Elite’s performance gains to be seen in everyday use.
From Exynos
For Samsung, this is an important step. The Exynos W1000 is its in-house silicon, and it powers the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Watch 8, and Galaxy Watch Ultra. The switch to Qualcomm for the next generation suggests that Samsung sees the Snapdragon Wear Elite as a better option right now, especially given its focus on AI hardware and power island design, two areas where the Exynos chip has no direct equivalent.
It’s worth noting that Qualcomm has put the Snapdragon Wear Elite beyond just looks. The platform is also designed for pins, pendants, and hubs, which point to a broader ecosystem that Samsung may or may not fit into.
When and when exactly
Qualcomm says commercial devices are coming within the next few months. Samsung has confirmed that the chip is coming to the next Galaxy Watch, but did not specify whether that means the Galaxy Watch 9, the new Ultra model, or both. Amazing releases on all the different models are absolutely possible. For anyone currently weighing whether to buy the Galaxy Watch 8 or Ultra, that ambiguity might be reason enough to wait a little longer and see what comes next.
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The post Samsung’s next Galaxy Watch gets Qualcomm’s new 3nm chip appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.
