Samsung has taken the wraps off of the new Exynos W920 chipset ahead of the Unpacked launch event tomorrow (August 11th) where it will make its debut powering the Galaxy Watch 4 and 4 Classic smartwatches. The Exynos W920 chip is built on an advanced 5nm process which is light years ahead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 (28nm) and 4100 (12nm) processors that power previous Wear OS smartwatches.
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Powering the first smartwatch to feature the new, unified Wear OS 3.0 platform from Google and Samsung, the Exynos W920 chip packs in a pair of Arm Cortex-A55 cores for high-performance along with an Arm Mali G68 GPU, the combination of which allows for faster app launches and an eye-catching 3D graphical UI on the device’s qHD display (960 x 540). The Cortex-M55 low-power processor takes care of Always-on-Display duties as well as notifications, calls, and other low-priority functions in order to increase power efficiency. A 4G/LTE Cat.4 modem is integrated in the chip which also features Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) L1 for sat-nav purposes.
“Wearables like smartwatches are no longer just a cool gadget to have. They’re now a growing part of our lifestyles to keep you fit, safe and alert,” said Harry Cho, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. “With the Exynos W920, future wearables will be able to run applications with visually appealing user interfaces and more responsive user experiences while keeping you connected on the go with fast LTE.”
With power management IC, support for LPDDR4 memory, and an embedded eMMC memory card, the processor’s compact size will bring about smartwatches with sleeker profiles or larger batteries. All-in-all, the Exynos W920 promises to shake up the Wear OS smartwatch segment and has already caused Qualcomm to realize that its monopoly on the platform is over.
