New smartwatches featuring Qualcomm's new chipset expected by the end of 2018

The last major SoC (system-on-chip) refresh for the smartwatch market happened about two years ago when Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 2100. Now that a new wave of smartwatches has been introduced at IFA 2018 early this month, many are tempted to jump into the Wear OS bandwagon and buy a brand new smartwatch.

We would suggest waiting for a few more months, as Qualcomm is expected to announce a brand new smartwatch chipset today, September 10. Qualcomm's senior director of wearables, Pankaj Kedia told Wareable that we can expect new smartwatches from various companies, packing the new chipset, by the holidays.

Kedia also said that Qualcomm's next wearable platform will be “the first with purpose-built chips,” which have been created with fashion and sports in mind. Also, the new chipset will offer improved battery life, but we don't know yet to what degree.

It's true that we may have to wait a couple of months until the first smartwatches powered by Qualcomm's new chipset will land on the market, but at least we'll know later today whether or not it's worth the wait.