Future Pixel Watches have three potential {hardware} paths, however I hope Google would not go along with the more than likely one

Google has at the least three potential paths ahead for designing the {hardware} for future Pixel Watches: Arm-powered Tensor, open-source RISC-V, or Oryon-powered Snapdragon Wear.

I can not let you know which of those choices could be greatest, however one possibility — Tensor — would disappoint me if its leaked design is actual. And it appears to be Google’s more than likely path to take.

On Monday, information leaked of Google’s potential plans to create a customized wearable Tensor chip for the Pixel Watch 5 in 2026, utilizing related Arm cores to those discovered within the Galaxy Watch 7’s Exynos W1000 SoC.

This took me unexpectedly, given the announcement final yr that Qualcomm and Google will use RISC-V for future Wear OS {hardware}. Just final week, after I spoke with the Qualcomm VP of wearables, he defined that they are nonetheless “engaged on it” proper now with Google, attempting to get Wear OS software program operating easily on open-source {hardware} as a substitute of Arm cores.

Android Authority’s Kamila Wojciechowska defined that this leaked “NPT” Tensor chip was envisioned in early 2023, with RISC-V thought of an “different” on the time. Things may have modified between then and the Qualcomm announcement. However, there are causes to imagine that Google may get chilly ft and relapse to a typical wearable technique: copy Samsung and lower your expenses.

The perks and dangers of a RISC-V Pixel Watch

Our RISC-V explainer runs by means of all of the potential upsides of this know-how. To summarize, RISC-V provides every motion its personal separate instruction that is extra sophisticated to code however quickens the native processing time.

It’s totally open-source — escaping Arm’s licensing — very modular, and able to supporting specialised platforms with higher efficiency and effectivity than conventional cores initially designed for telephones with a “full function set.”

If Google made a Tensor chip with customized RISC-V silicon as a substitute of Arm cores, that might be an thrilling change, giving the Pixel Watch 4 a novel path to compete with Samsung’s self-made Exynos tech.

I already alluded to at least one main draw back of RISC-V: in my interview with Qualcomm VP Dino Bekis, he famous that making RISC-V {hardware} for Wear OS was the straightforward half, however designing these specialised software program directions is proving to be a problem. Google may determine this course of is extra hassle than it is price in the long run, when Arm is the usual most devs use.

Another downside is much less technical and extra political: the New York Times reported in January that RISC-V “has grow to be a central instrument for Chinese corporations and authorities establishments hoping to match U.S. prowess in designing semiconductors.”

Because of its open-source design, RISC-V can get round U.S. export controls that presently apply to Arm cores past “sure efficiency limits,” since you possibly can’t simply prohibit open-source software program from a selected nation. A U.S. House subcommittee advisable in late 2023 that the Department of Commerce “decide whether or not the promulgation of open-source microelectronic architectures, like RISC-V, pose a danger to U.S. nationwide safety or provide chain safety.”

Most Big Tech corporations are risk-averse; Google, which is not any exception, may determine to bail on this open-source normal if there’s even an opportunity that the U.S.-China rivalry may derail RISC-V. It would make all of their transitional efforts pointless, they usually’d have to return to Arm (or Qualcomm) anyway.

Google did drop Android kernel help for RISC-V in April, however confirmed on the time that “Android will proceed to help RISC-V.” We merely do not know whether or not “help” will go so far as Google utilizing RISC-V itself in a significant product.

Watching the Arm-Qualcomm authorized fallout

In concept, Qualcomm and Google will proceed to accomplice intently on future Wear OS {hardware}. The Pixel Watch 3 and a pair of used the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1, and Qualcomm’s Dino Bekis implied on the Snapdragon Summit that we’ll see their “subsequent” chip in 2025, presumably the W5 Gen 2.

In concept, that chip may use customized Oryon cores, just like these discovered within the Snapdragon 8 Elite however optimized to a good decrease energy demand. Bekis himself mentioned Qualcomm deliberately began with PCs earlier than scaling all the way down to cellular, and that wearables are the following (difficult) step. They wish to help Wear OS hitting “per week’s price of battery life” with RISC-V or Oryon.

At the identical time, the Arm-Qualcomm authorized battle has the potential to go nuclear and derail Qualcomm’s whole enterprise mannequin. Qualcomm’s customized software program depends on designs acquired from Nuvia; if Arm efficiently argues that Nuvia (and by extension, Qualcomm) is in breach of contract by utilizing privileged Arm IP, then that might scuttle Oryon and loads of different issues at Qualcomm.

We do not understand how this authorized battle will shake out, but it surely’s one more instance of {hardware} that Google may determine it might probably’t depend on. Enter Plan C: Google Tensor and Arm.

The Pixel Watch 5 certain appears underpowered

I’m not against Google counting on Tensor. Despite their comparatively low benchmarks, Tensor CPUs have helped make telephones just like the Pixel 9 Pro fashionable bestsellers with nice AI efficiency. Future Wear OS watches will want robust AI, and effectivity is extra necessary than energy in wearable type.

But if this leak is true, Google may give the 2026 Pixel Watch 5 one ARM Cortex-A78 core and two ARM Cortex-A55 cores, more than likely utilizing a 3nm node.

For context, the 2024 Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra use a 3nm chip with one Cortex-A78 clocked at 1.6GHz and 4 Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.5GHz. Hypothetically, Google’s wearable Tensor chip would already be outdated when it arrives in 2026, with Samsung doubtless shifting to a next-gen Exynos chip by then.

Google began off its wearable technique locked into utilizing a four-year-old Exynos 9110 chip in its 2022 Pixel Watch, initially designed for the primary Galaxy Watch operating Tizen OS. It’s excellent at making software program run effectively on dated cores, to be truthful.

“Google is aware of higher than anybody else what it might want to run Wear OS successfully,” says Anshel Sag, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “An A78 could be a efficiency increase in comparison with the 4 A53s that energy the Snapdragon W5…That mentioned, evidently everybody continues to be utilizing fairly outdated cores from Arm at this level and are all generations behind, which I can solely think about is because of value.”

While Sag shares my concern that this path “may end in a lesser expertise by way of battery life and efficiency than if Google saved utilizing the newest platforms from Qualcomm,” he additionally famous that he is “unsure Google is promoting sufficient Pixel Watches to justify customized silicon” and that utilizing Arm cores would let it “management its roadmap” higher.

If the Pixel Watch 3 will be so glorious with outdated Arm cores, why not the Watch 4, and Watch 5, and so forth?

That’s why it is smart that Google would take the secure route with acquainted Arm cores designed with Tensor effectivity and price issues in thoughts. But that does not make me really feel much less disillusioned on the thought: it makes me fearful about the way forward for Wear OS innovation if, years from now, Google continues to be designing its software program with important {hardware} limitations in thoughts.