Google Pixel Watch Reportedly Uses a 4-Year-Old Chip

pcmag.com:

Anyone excited by the Google Pixel Watch announcement last week may be in for shock when they find out what hardware is powering this new smartwatch.

As 9To5Google reports(Opens in a new window), an anonymous source is claiming the Pixel Watch will use an old Exynos processor which Samsung released back in 2018. The Exynos 9110(Opens in a new window) is a 10nm dual-core ARM processor running at 1.1GHz and using a Mali T270 GPU.

There's nothing wrong with opting for an older chip if it gets the job done, but if true, Google will be launching a smartwatch with a big disadvantage over the competition. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 uses an Exynos W920(Opens in a new window), which is a 5nm dual-core ARM processor running at 1.18GHz and uses a Mali G68 GPU.

According to Samsung, the W920 offers around a 20% CPU performance gain(Opens in a new window), and ten-times better graphics performance than the previous generation. The shift to 5nm also brings with it power savings, which allow the small battery inside a smartwatch to last that much longer.

As to why an old chip is being used, it's speculated that Google started the Pixel Watch project in 2018/19 when the 9110 was still a new chip. Switching to a new processor would require more work and a delayed launch, so Google decided to stick with the original hardware spec. The knock-on effect for Google is cheaper components, but the risk is a smartwatch that simply can't compete with the latest models from Samsung and Apple.

Perhaps Google is taking a leaf out of Nintendo's book with the Pixel Watch—it may not be the latest hardware, but if it's fun to use and has good battery life, consumers will buy millions of them. We'll find out how well that approach works