Skip to main content

New Moto smartwatches will end the wait for more Snapdragon Wear 4100 models

The next Moto smartwatch will reportedly come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, according to a road map published as part of an investor presentation from CE Brands, the current holders of the license to make Moto-branded smartwatches. The report states more than one new Moto smartwatch will come later this year — a Moto G Smartwatch, a Moto One, and a Moto Watch, but we don’t know which ones will use the new chip yet.

TheMacGezza/Reddit.com

Several renders of what could be the Moto G watch can be found throughout the investor report, but one, in particular, caught the attention of smartwatch fans on Reddit. The image was sharpened to reveal what appears to be text reading “Snapdragon Wear 4100” around the edge of the case back. The implication is clear, a smartwatch running the Wear 4100 platform should be on the way.

Recommended Videos

The Snapdragon Wear 4100 is a rarity in the smartwatch world. Most Wear OS smartwatches you can buy today are powered by Qualcomm’s older Snapdragon Wear 3100 chips, with the sole exception of the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3. The previous Moto 360, released in 2020, also used a Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip.

If any of the new Moto smartwatches do arrive with the Wear 4100 processor, they will have a hardware advantage over rivals, offering faster performance and longer battery life. The Ticwatch Pro 3 shows what this means for you, with its excellent three-day-plus battery life, and significant speed advantages over smartwatches using the older Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform. Given all the improvements the new chip offers, it has taken significant time for companies to adopt them, perhaps due to perceived hardware gains not being enough to offset the development costs involved. Regardless, it’s great to see the wait for more models with the chip may almost be over.

According to the investor report road map, the new Moto G smartwatch is scheduled to launch in June, and if the renders represent the final product, it will come in a silvery-white color and have a round screen. In July, a square-faced Moto Watch and round Moto One smartwatch are also planned. However, before we get too excited, it’s not clear which models will feature the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip, and it’s also worth remembering these dates are probably not final, so things may change over the coming months.

Michael Allison
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Motorola’s newest smartwatch isn’t at all what you’d expect
A render of the Motorola Moto 70.

Motorola's Moto Watch 70 is on its way to being released soon, as the wearable has just been listed on Best Buy Canada. The landing page reveals the product in its full glory, presenting its key specifications alongside a boring, conventional, and lazy design.

The Moto 70 features a 1.69-inch color display with a 240 x 280-pixel resolution. While we don't know if the display is LCD or AMOLED, the case it's housed in is zinc alloy. You'll get a silicone watch band bundled with the device. As for other features, the Moto 70 sports heart-rate tracking alongside a SpO2 sensor and a gyroscope. Fitness features onboard include 23 sports modes.

Read more
Wear OS 3 is finally coming to these older smartwatches this month
Fossil Skagen Falster Gen 6 on the wrist.

Wear OS 3 has been supported by Samsung smartwatches for over a year at this point, but now it's finally coming to Fossil devices in just a few days. While the launch of the Google Pixel Watch today has put Wear OS 3 back in the spotlight, Fossil smartwatches are the first to be upgraded from the previous Wear OS 2 version.

While it's certainly exciting that Wear OS 3 is coming to more devices, it's important to note that it won't be headed to all of Fossil's lineup. As reported by Android Central, the upcoming Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition will be launching with Wear OS 3; the Fossil Gen 6, the Michael Kors Gen 6, and the Skagen Falster Gen 6 will all be receiving the OS update together when the Wellness Edition launches. Luckily, fans won't have to wait long as the update rolls out on October 17.

Read more
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip might actually save Android smartwatches
The Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Pro on someone's wrist.

Qualcomm has a new wearable chip for smartwatches. Actually, there are two of them. They're the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1, and Qualcomm thinks they're the next big revolution in smartwatch chipsets.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. The Snapdragon Wear 3100 from 2018 was also supposed to supercharge Wear OS watches and take them to the next level. But beyond some fairly modest battery improvements, performance on the Wear 3100 left a lot to be desired. And 2020's Wear 4100 and Wear 4100+ chips weren't much better. Qualcomm again made some battery improvements and performance gains, but seldom few smartwatches actually adopted the 4100 platform. A handful of watches from Mobvoi and Fossil use a 4100-series chip, and that's about it. Samsung's Galaxy Watch lineup is using Exynos chips, and rumors even suggest Google's Pixel Watch will do the same.

Read more