A new chip for the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
At the recently held MWC event, Qualcomm unveiled its latest Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset for wearables. Soon after, Samsung officially confirmed that its next Galaxy Watch will use this new Snapdragon chip. However, it wasn’t clear at the time which upcoming Samsung smartwatch – the Watch 9 or the Watch Ultra 2 – would use the new processor.
The tipster believes that Samsung is using the dual-chip strategy to differentiate the two smartwatches from each other. The more powerful Snapdragon chip will be used in the premium watch, whereas the standard model will continue to use the same in-house Exynos chipset.
Snapdragon SoC could bring some real improvements
GALAXY WATCH 9 & 9ULTRA 2 UPDATE
Samsung may split processors across its next smartwatch lineup. In simple terms, the premium model could use a different chip to deliver stronger performance.
→ Ultra 2 reportedly testing Snapdragon Wear Elite
→ Standard Watch 9 expected to… pic.twitter.com/nZyf1WeikB— Jason C. (@_TheJasonC) March 6, 2026
Qualcomm specifically mentioned in the press release that the Snapdragon Wear Elite chip is designed for AI-centric wearables. That basically means it will bring a plent of AI improvements to smartwatches. The processor features a dedicated Hexagon NPU, which will allow the wearable (the Watch Ultra 2, if rumors prove true) to support on-device AI models. It will also enable different AI-powered use cases, like smart replies, summarizing long text, advanced fitness coaching, and more.
All that said, I also believe the new AI-centric Snapdragon chip could lead to a slight price increase for the Ultra model. Whether that will actually happen remains to be seen when the device is officially unveiled. Until then, I would recommend taking even the information about Samsung’s dual-chip strategy for its upcoming watches with a grain of salt, as it comes from a tipster rather than an official source.
