Google working on a Tensor chip for Pixel Watch, leaked documents suggest

Ben Schoon | Oct 28 2024 - 6:35 am PT

New data from a large leak of Google’s future Tensor plans reveals that the company may be working on a custom chip for Pixel Watch that could arrive in the next couple of years.

Google’s Pixel Watch series has, so far, been powered by off-the-shelf chipsets from Samsung and, for the past two years, Qualcomm. The Pixel Watch 2 and Watch 3 have both been powered by Snapdragon W5+ chipset, Qualcomm’s latest and drastically improved chip for smartwatches. That’s led to significantly better battery life compared to the outdated Exynos chip that was used in the first Pixel Watch.

However, it feels inevitable that Google would follow the same strategy as its phones and move the chip for its smartwatch in-house too, and it seems that’s happening relatively soon.

Leaked documents have surfaced recently from Google’s chip division, with the folks over at Android Authority spotting within these documents some evidence that Google may be working on a Tensor chipset for Pixel Watch.

Details are slim here, as opposed to Tensor G5 and G6 which had their specs leaked in full, but the “NPT” chip is said to be coming in 2026 which is likely in line with Pixel Watch 5.

The chip would have a core configuration consisting of 1x Arm Cortex-A78 and 2x Arm Cortex-A55, both of which are rather outdated by modern standards. That said, though, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5+ actually uses an even older Cortex-A53 on a 4nm node, so the older core design doesn’t necessarily mean Google’s design is behind the curve. In fact, with Google moving to TSMC’s 3nm process on its upcoming Tensor chips, a Tensor chip for Pixel Watch built on that same process could turn out to be more advanced than Qualcomm’s current offering.

There are still a lot of questions around a Tensor chip for smartwatches, but this leak offers some insight into Google’s future plans.

What do you think?