Snapdragon Wear Elite is here: The first Elite chip for watches and AI gadgets

Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon X Elite line back in 2023 as its top-of-the-line PC chip family. It then followed up with the Snapdragon 8 Elite in 2024, which powers plenty of premium Android phones. Now, the company has revealed its first Elite-branded chip for wearables and smartwatches. Say hello to the Snapdragon Wear Elite processor.

The Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is a major step up from previous Snapdragon Wear chips, and it’s designed for smartwatches, AI pins, and AI pendants. So what makes this chip Elite, then?

For starters, the new processor is manufactured on a 3nm process compared to the Snapdragon W5 Plus Gen 1’s already small 4nm design. However, the Wear Elite also brings a five-core CPU (1x big core at 2.1GHz and 4x little cores at 1.9GHz). Qualcomm hasn’t identified these cores, save for saying they’re not Oryon cores. Nevertheless, the company still promises an up to five-fold increase in single-threaded performance. The chip’s GPU also increases maximum FPS performance by up to 7x.

The Snapdragon Wear Elite brings improved AI hardware, starting with the embedded NPU. This supports low-power use cases like keyword/activity recognition and noise cancelation or suppression. This is also the first Snapdragon wearable chipset with a dedicated Hexagon NPU. Qualcomm says this enables on-device AI models with up to two billion parameters, as well as up to 10 tokens per second. It also mooted use cases like smart replies, text creation, text summaries, and fitness coaches.

Expect improved battery life and charging speed, too. The Snapdragon Wear Elite promises up to 30% longer days-of-use compared to previous silicon, as well as a 50% charge in just 10 minutes. The improved battery life also comes as smartwatch makers increasingly embrace silicon-carbon batteries, so don’t be surprised if these next-generation watches last significantly longer than previous models.

Finally, the new smartwatch and wearable chipset sports six different types of connectivity. This includes 5G RedCap (reduced capability), micro-power Wi-Fi, NB-NTN for satellite connectivity, Bluetooth 6.0, GNSS, and UWB. In saying so, Qualcomm clarified that OEMs don’t necessarily have to buy a version of this chipset with these connectivity features. In other words, don’t expect every smartwatch or wearable with this processor to have 5G, UWB, or satellite support.

Keen on smartwatches or other wearable gadgets powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite? Qualcomm says the first products with this new processor will ship in the second half of 2026.