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Qualcomm’s latest smartwatch chips, Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2 launched: 6 highlights

Here's what's new with Qualcomm’s latest smartwatch chips, Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2.

Published on: Aug 21, 2025 03:59 PM IST

Qualcomm has just released brand-new chipsets for smartwatches named Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2. These are wearable platforms, and the company claims that these bring better connectivity, efficiency, and location tracking for wearables. Notably, the latest Pixel Watch 4, which was released yesterday, comes with the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2, making it the first smartwatch to support these mobile platforms. Here's what's new about both the platforms.

Pixel Watch 4 is the first wearable to be powered by W5 Gen 2. (Qualcomm)
Pixel Watch 4 is the first wearable to be powered by W5 Gen 2. (Qualcomm)
By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

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Qualcomm W5+ Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2: What’s new

  1. Qualcomm says that the SDW5 and W5 Gen 2 platforms are the first wearable platforms to get satellite support for wearables, using Skylo's Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Network. In simple words, this allows two-way emergency messaging directly from your wearable device, enabling communication even in remote areas with no cellular reception. The company says people such as adventurers in remote areas could use this feature to send an SOS emergency message when they don't have any network.
  2. The platform is available with a low-power coprocessor as Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2, or without the coprocessor as Snapdragon W5 Gen 2,.
  3. These platforms are built on a 4nm architecture and feature Location Machine Learning 3.0 for better GPS positioning by almost 50% compared to previous generations, and optimised RFFE, which leads to better efficiency and lower power consumption.
  4. These chipsets also come with a 20% size reduction, allowing manufacturers to reduce the sizes of their wearables, making for much sleeker devices.
  5. The W5 Gen 2 platform is going to be available with the latest version of Wear OS and its first chips with the Pixel Watch 4, but it also supports FreeRTOS and Android.
  6. The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 platform features low power states, including ‘Deep Sleep’ and ‘Hibernate.’

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