There is a possibility that Google’s Pixel Watch 5 will use a custom Tensor chip instead of Qualcomm. Google also uses Tensor chips for its Pixel smartphones, but interestingly the switch will only take place in 2026, so the Pixel Watch 4 will still likely use Qualcomm chips.
In addition, this leak is based on a roadmap document from early 2023, which means that a lot could have changed between then and now.
According to the same source, this Tensor chip’s CPU will have one Cortex-A78 core and two Cortex-A55 cores, and Google is also exploring RISC-V as an alternative to Arm. With the A55 launching in 2017, those CPU cores are positively ancient, but wearables are trending towards this.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 has Cortex-A53 cores (which launched in 2012), while the Samsung Exynos W1000 has one Cortex-A78 and four Cortex-A55 cores, making it most similar to Google’s intended design. We think this wearable Tensor chip might just be a tweaked Samsung chip – just like all the Tensor chips on smartphones.
The process technology of this new Tensor chip is unknown, but it could be 3nm. Lastly, we are unsure about the modem that will be used – Samsung will likely use an Exynos modem (which is used in Google’s smartphones).
