I’m at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where Qualcomm Technologies just announced the brand’s latest Snapdragon Wear Elite processor for smartwatches, and it’s all about handling complex AI tasks. Here’s what it could mean for your next wearables.
Snapdragon Wear Elite: Now even more AI on your wrist
According to Qualcomm, the latest wearables processor is all about enabling “high-power AI processing directly on the device.” While today’s smartwatches offer impressive AI capabilities, not all of the high-tech processing actually happens on your watch.
For example, the new AI-powered, personalized ‘Workout Buddy’ feature for Apple Watch requires a paired Apple Intelligence-powered smartphone to work.
Coming to your Pixel or Galaxy Watch soon
Of course, Apple doesn’t use Qualcomm processors in the Apple Watch, but Google and Samsung both do. In fact, Qualcomm makes it clear that the latest Snapdragon Wear Elite processor will likely be supported by Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch devices.
In 2026, Samsung and Google will be a full step ahead of Apple when it comes to on-wrist AI capabilities. While even those with the best Apple Watch models are stuck with a limitedly useful non-AI-powered Siri experience, both the latest and prior-gen Samsung and Google watches support the latter’s outstanding Gemini-powered AI voice assistant.
Another area where Google and Samsung have Apple beat is smartwatch battery life. And the gap is about to get even bigger, potentially. The new Wear Elite processor also promises faster charging times, up to 50% power-ups in ten minutes, and more notably, even better overall power management.
The takeaway
Get ready for the next-generation of Wear OS smartwatches to be supercharged with on-device AI powers that could result in an even better Gemini AI assistant experience, improved health, fitness, stress, and sleep insights, data analysis, and power management.
Furthermore, the new Snapdragon Wear Elite tech could also show up in the next generation of AI pins, which may or may not see the light of day, like those from OpenAI and Apple.
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