The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch is set to make a significant change by moving away from its own silicon and instead adopting Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon Wear Elite chip. This decision follows Qualcomm’s recent announcement at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, where the company unveiled the new chip promising enhanced performance for smartwatches and other wearable devices.
During Qualcomm’s event, Samsung executive InKang Song took the stage to announce that the next generation of Samsung wearables would be powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip. While it remains unclear whether this change will be implemented in the Galaxy Watch 9 series, Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, or both, the move is expected to bring about a notable increase in power and functionality.
According to Song, the shift to Qualcomm’s chip will enable the upcoming Samsung smartwatch to serve as an even more comprehensive wellness companion. The Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, built on a 3nm production process, features a single performance core and four efficiency cores, resulting in a 5x boost in performance and a 7x faster GPU compared to its predecessor, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2.
One of the standout features of the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is its Hexagon NPU, which facilitates on-device AI capabilities for real-time personalized experiences. This includes context-aware recommendations, natural voice interactions, and life logging, aligning with Samsung’s focus on AI advancements in its devices.
Qualcomm anticipates that the first smartwatches powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip will hit the market in the coming months. Considering that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series was launched in July 2025, it is likely that the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will be among the initial wave of wearables equipped with this advanced chip.
With the Galaxy Watch 8 series and Ultra (2025 model) already on the market, Samsung users can look forward to a more sophisticated and AI-enhanced wearable experience with the upcoming Galaxy Watch powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip.
