Mar 03, 2026 11:46:00

Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon Wear Elite, a compact SoC that gives smartwatches the ability to run AI, with a built-in NPU that can run 2 billion parameter AI models locally

Qualcomm, which develops processors for smartphones and PCs, announced the Snapdragon Wear Elite SoC for wearable devices on March 2, 2026. The Snapdragon Wear Elite has a built-in AI processing processor (NPU) that can locally run AI models with up to 2 billion parameters.

Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform | Qualcomm

https://www.qualcomm.com/wearables/products/snapdragon-wear-elite-platform

Qualcomm Powers the Rise of Personal AI with New Snapdragon Wear Elite Platform | Qualcomm
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2026/03/qualcomm-powers-the-rise-of-personal-ai-with-new-snapdragon-wear

Snapdragon Wear Elite is an SoC for wearable devices such as smartwatches and pendants.

The SoC is manufactured using a 3nm process and is packed with a CPU, GPU, NPU, modem, sensors, memory, and more.

Its biggest feature is that it is equipped with

a Hexagon NPU . The Hexagon NPU is a processor designed specifically for AI processing, capable of locally running AI models with up to 2 billion parameters while reducing power consumption. It also boasts five times the CPU performance and seven times the GPU performance of the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 2 , which was released in 2025.

It supports wireless communication via 5G RedCap, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 6.0, and can also obtain location information via satellite.

Snapdragon Wear Elite is supported by partners including Motorola, Samsung, and Google, and devices featuring it are expected to appear in the coming months.