Fresh details about the upcoming Pixel Watch 2 have surfaced, thanks to 9to5Google. The new smartwatch will come with upgraded specifications, including a more powerful processor, improved battery life, and advanced health sensors.
Last year, the company introduced its first smartwatch, the Pixel Watch, which was powered by the Exynos 9110 SoC and ran on Wear OS 3.5.
Pixel Watch 2 with Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1
According to reports, the Pixel Watch 2 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset from the latest “W5” generation. The specific level of customization is unclear, but it is worth noting that the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 was recently announced and has been incorporated into the TicWatch Pro 5, which launched last week.
Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 is a 4nm SoC with four A53 cores clocked at 1.7GHz and dual Adreno 702 GPUs running at 1GHz. In comparison, the original Pixel Watch’s Exynos 9110 had a 10nm build with two Cortex-A53s.
The report suggests that the Pixel Watch 2 was expected to use the 5nm W920 chip found in the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5, or the rumored W980 chip anticipated for the Galaxy Watch 6. However, it is premature to speculate on how this change in wearables will impact Google’s foundry decisions for their phone lineup, particularly considering the customization of their Tensor chip.
Improved Battery Life
The Pixel Watch 2 is expected to have a significant improvement in battery life. Despite having a similar-sized battery to the current model, the new watch is reported to provide over a day of usage with the always-on display (AOD) enabled. The original Pixel Watch is rated for 24 hours with AOD turned off, and users can typically make it through a day with the screen on.
However, the Pixel Watch 2’s battery life could potentially extend to two days with adjusted settings for power conservation, which can be advantageous during travel.
The improved battery life can be attributed to the new chipset, along with the promised optimizations and updates in the upcoming Wear OS 4. The Pixel Watch 2 is expected to be one of the first devices to launch with Wear OS 4 in the fall.
Fitbit Sensors
The Pixel Watch 2 is rumored to include similar health sensors as the Fitbit Sense 2. Notably, the Fitbit Sense 2 features a continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor for all-day stress management and tracking, as well as a dedicated skin temperature sensor.
While other Fitbit devices measure nightly skin temperature variation using existing sensors, the Sense 2 offers a dedicated component, although it does not provide actual temperature readings.
The Pixel Watch 2 is expected to be announced alongside the Pixel 8 later this year.