The next Google Pixel Watch could get a proper battery upgrade by swapping Samsung Exynos chips for Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon W5 Plus silicon.
That’s according to an unmanned source from 9to5Google, who noted that the Pixel Watch 2 will drop the 10–nanometer Samsung Exynos 9110 (which was somewhat dated when the smartwatch launched in the fall of 2022) for the latest Snapdragon chip for wearables that uses a 4nm process node. In basic terms, the smaller the process node the more transistors a chip can fit on it meaning more performance and greater efficiency.
As such, a second-generation Pixel Watch is expected to not only outperform its predecessor, but also be more power efficient and thus eke out a longer battery life. Ideally, we’d hope to see at least a full day’s use.
Boost the battery
I rather like the Pixel Watch, more for its simple looks and neat design, but I can’t deny that the battery life is an area that hasn’t impressed me. I don’t use a lot of the fitness features, preferring my smartwatch to be more of a notifications machine and step counter, in addition to being… well an actual watch.
But despite not using the Watch to its full potential, I still find it gasping out for power after most of a day’s use. This isn't a huge problem when I’m at home, as I have the charger in a convenient place by my desk and leave the watch to charge overnight. It does become inconvenient on overnight trips, such as a recent one where I ‘broke’ a Panasonic Toughbook 40, as I either have to make the choice of carrying yet another charger or simply going for a traditional watch; mostly I opt for the latter.
And for people who like to make use of sleep tracking, having a smartwatch that runs out of battery before bedtime isn't ideal. So a boosted battery life could be one big boon for a Pixel Watch 2.
That being said we’d also like to see some other features, say a built-in skin temperature sensor, which has also been tipped. This is something the Fitbit Sense 2 has, so would make sense for Google to bring it to the next Watch.
And improved health metrics tracking would be appreciated. I’d personally like to see a design that slightly slims down the Pixel Watch and shaves off some of the chunky display bezels that are visible if you go looking for them.
We’d expect the Pixel Watch 2 to make its debut alongside the equally rumored Google Pixel 8, both of which are likely to launch this fall.
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