Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear W6 Promises Big Upgrades

Abdullah Mustapha

July 13, 2025

Qualcomm is prepared to introduce a whole new processor for upcoming smartwatches. Dubbed the Snapdragon Wear W6, this new chip is already claiming a huge performance and efficiency boost. It will replace the current Snapdragon Wear W5 processor that powers the likes of the Pixel Watch 3.

Qualcomm Prepares Snapdragon Wear W6 Chipset with Substantial Performance Boost for Smartwatches

Codename “Aspen” and used as model SW6100, the Snapdragon Wear W6 is not based on any existing Qualcomm chip. Instead, it was built from scratch for wearables. It marks a big change from the way Qualcomm traditionally operated, which was often by porting smartphone chips over to watches.

The new chipset is accompanied by a new architecture that has one performance driven Cortex-A78 core and four power saving Cortex-A55 cores. This has been designed to deliver fast performance in executing heavy applications as well as conserve power while executing background tasks or light apps.

Snapdragon Wear W6 also sports LPDDR5X memory, which is faster and more power efficient than RAM from previous generations. This will result in faster app opening and a generally more responsive system. TSMC is the foundry producing the chip, one of the premier semiconductor foundries.

Snapdragon Wear W6: A Leap in Smartwatch Tech

Architecturally, the W6 is little different from Samsung’s new Exynos W1000. Both are members of a new generation of processors that exist only to power wearables. By abandoning the older Cortex-A53 cores that have been in use in the Wear W5, Qualcomm is eyeing more efficient multitasking, faster performance, and improved battery life management.

One of the biggest upgrades expected from the W6 is smarter background app behavior. That is, background applications should not significantly impact battery life and system performance. More responsive watches with a smoother snappy feel day in and day out is what users can expect.

Qualcomm has not yet announced a specific release date. The chip is more likely to be official at the Snapdragon Summit in September, though. Assuming release timelines are on track, the first smartwatches based on the Snapdragon Wear W6 should start shipping in early 2026.

For smartwatch users, the update could translate to longer battery life, better performance, and an even more seamless experience. It also shows Qualcomm’s renewed focus on wearables, given that competition for smartwatches in the market is only increasing.

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