[Update: Removed] TicWatch Pro 3 / E3 listings suddenly claim the Wear OS watches use Snapdragon 4100+

Ben Schoon | Sep 27 2021 - 1:19 pm PT

The Wear OS market is in a state of transition thanks to Google’s big revamp, and that makes some of the only watches worth buying the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 from Mobvoi that run on the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip. Though, suddenly, the listings for those TicWatch models have been updated to claim they are now using the Snapdragon 4100+.

Update 9/27: Just as mysteriously as they arrived, all mentions of the “Snapdragon 4100+” have been removed from Mobvoi’s Ticwatch Pro 3 and Ticwatch E3 listings. Mobvoi has still yet to comment on the change officially, but conversations some buyers have had over support have seen the company “confirm” using the newer chip while others were told that the “Dual System Platform” was a modification of Mobvoi’s own making.

In any case, it seems clear that Mobvoi isn’t actually shipping the Snapdragon 4100+ in any of its current products, but it remains unknown if the mention of a 4100+ was simply in error or was an ill-conceived marketing stunt.

Over the past few weeks, Mobvoi has quietly updated the various online listings for the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 with this apparently SoC change. The company’s own website explicitly says that both watches are running on the 4100+ instead of the 4100, even going as far as to mention the “Dual System Platform” that the upgraded chip provides. Meanwhile, over on Amazon, the listings have been updated in the images, description, and even the listing title. It’s been a very thorough replacement.

You can see the changes for yourself at the following links.

What’s interesting about this change is that Mobvoi hasn’t mentioned it officially. The change was clearly made by the company, but it hasn’t been advertised in any capacity. The 4100+ doesn’t bring a lot to the table over the standard 4100 that’s already in both of these products, but it’s still a notable upgrade that brings the two smartwatches more in line with the recently-announced Fossil Gen 6 lineup.

In digging for more details, the folks over at NotebookCheck tested a brand new TicWatch E3 to look for evidence of the new chip and, to no surprise, found that all evidence pointed to the watch running a 4100. While a valiant effort, the logic in that test is likely flawed as this could simply be a case of an older unit being shipped instead of one fresh off the line.

Regardless of what’s currently shipping to customers, it’s clear something is going on here. We reached out to Mobvoi for a comment on why these listings have been updated, but the company has yet to acknowledge the request.