Google Pixel Watch 5 to have a custom Tensor chipset

Google's Pixel Watch 5 might get a custom Tensor chip, giving up on Qualcomm as a supplier. This makes sense since Google is also using Tensor chips for its Pixel smartphones, but interestingly the switch will only happen in 2026, so the Pixel Watch 4 will presumably still use a Qualcomm SoC.

That said, the roadmap document that this leak is based on is itself from early 2023, which means a lot could have changed from then and up until now, keep that in mind.

Now, this Tensor chip's CPU would have one Cortex-A78 core and two Cortex-A55 cores, according to the same source, while Google is also exploring RISC-V as a potential alternative to Arm. Those CPU cores are positively ancient, with the A55 launching in 2017, but this is a bit of a trend in wearables.

Both Samsung and Qualcomm use older cores in their smartwatch chips - the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 has Cortex-A53 cores (which launched in 2012), while the Exynos W1000 has one Cortex-A78 and four Cortex-A55, thus being the most similar to Google's intended design. That makes us think this wearable Tensor might just be a tweaked Samsung chip - in the same way as all of the smartphone Tensor chips so far have been.

What isn't known is what process technology this new Tensor chip will use, but it could be 3nm. Another unknown is the modem that will be used - if this is a Samsung design then an Exynos modem would make the most sense (it is after all what is used for Google's smartphones).

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