Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2 chips, the first wearable chips to support satellite messaging, and they'll be featured in Google's Pixel Watch 4.
Qualcomm has announced its latest chips for wearable devices, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and Snapdragon W5 Gen 2. These chips not only offer high connectivity and efficiency, but also the ability to send and receive messages via satellite even when outside the coverage area of mobile networks or Wi-Fi.
Next Generation Snapdragon W5+ and W5 Platforms: The World's First Wearable Platforms with NB-NTN Satellite Support | Qualcomm
Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 Wearable Platforms
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/mobile/snapdragon/wearables/snapdragon-w5-plus-gen-2-wearable-platform
The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 inside the Pixel Watch 4 lacks a major performance boost — but it's not all bad news | Android Central
https://www.androidcentral.com/wearables/snapdragon-w5-gen-2-revealed-with-satellite-sos-but-no-major-power-boost
The Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 bring satellite communication capabilities to the wearable industry for the first time by leveraging Skylo 's Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Network (NB-NTN). This enables two-way emergency messaging directly from wearable devices, providing peace of mind to users in remote areas without mobile networks. For example, adventurers can now send SOS messages from their wearable devices in an emergency without worrying about mobile network signal strength.
Stay connected, anywhere. The new #Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 Wearable Platform taps into emergency satellite communications to usher in a new era of safety for wearable devices, ensuring help is always just a click away. Read more here: https://t.co/LybXZk2VSx pic.twitter.com/oOBOBUVwoI
— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) August 20, 2025
NB-NTN communication is available on both the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 with a low-power coprocessor and the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 without one. Both the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 feature SoCs manufactured using a 4nm process, and Location Machine Learning 3.0 improves GPS positioning accuracy by up to 50% compared to the previous generation. Additionally, an optimized RF front end (RFFE: radio frequency signal processing component) reduces size by approximately 20% and power consumption compared to the previous generation, enabling OEMs to create sleek wearable designs and extend battery life.
According to a report from Android Central, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 uses four Cortex-A53 cores, a Cortex-M55 coprocessor, and an Adreno 702 GPU. The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2's footprint is 20% smaller than the previous generation, and it's also 20% more power efficient.
The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 is also compatible with Wear OS, Google's operating system for smartwatches, and will be installed in the just-announced Pixel Watch 4. The Pixel Watch 4 has the same size as its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 3, but boasts a 25% increase in battery life, thanks in large part to the high efficiency of the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2.
Google's smartwatch 'Pixel Watch 4' can tilt your wrist to ask Gemini questions, can be used continuously for up to 40 hours, and is waterproof to 50 meters - GIGAZINE
According to Qualcomm, the satellite messaging feature is quite limited compared to Emergency SOS, which supports satellite voice calling. However, the satellite messaging feature on the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 and Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 is very power efficient while supporting two-way messaging and location sharing.
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