Samsung Ditches Own Chip for Next Galaxy Watch in the UK, Switching to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite
Samsung Galaxy Watch to Feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite Chip
Samsung has announced that its next-generation Galaxy Watch will ditch the company’s own silicon and switch to Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear Elite chip. This move is expected to bring a significant increase in performance for smartwatches and other wearables.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip was announced at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, with promises of a substantial boost in performance. The chip boasts a single performance core and four efficiency cores, resulting in a 5x increase in performance and a 7x faster GPU compared to the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2.
The Snapdragon Wear Elite chip also features a Hexagon NPU, enabling the use of on-device AI models for real-time agentic experiences. This includes context-aware recommendations, natural voice interactions, and life logging. Samsung’s switch to this chip seems like a natural move, given the company’s focus on AI advances in recent years.
The first wearables powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip are expected to hit the market in the next few months. It’s possible that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2 will be among the first batch, following the launch of the Galaxy Watch 8 series in July 2025.
Samsung executive InKang Song announced the switch to Qualcomm’s chip, stating that it would enable the next-gen wearable to be an even more holistic wellness companion. The exact models that will feature the new chip are unclear, but it’s likely to be either the Galaxy Watch 9 series or the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip joins the Exynos W1000 of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 in using the more efficient 3nm production process. This move is expected to bring significant improvements to the performance and efficiency of the next-gen wearable.
The use of AI-ready wearable chips is becoming increasingly important, and Samsung’s switch to the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is a significant step in this direction. With the first wearables powered by this chip expected to hit the market soon, it will be interesting to see how they perform and what features they offer.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series and Ultra (2025 model) were launched in July 2025, and it’s likely that the next-gen wearable will follow a similar launch schedule. With the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip on board, the next Galaxy Watch is expected to offer a range of new features and improvements.
Overall, the switch to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is a significant move for Samsung, and it will be interesting to see how it affects the company’s wearable offerings in the UK. With a focus on AI advances and improved performance, the next-gen Galaxy Watch is expected to be a major player in the smartwatch market.
