Three years is an eternity in mobile tech. Since Qualcomm dropped the Snapdragon W5 and W5+ Gen 1 chips back in 2022, the company has largely ghosted the wearable SoC scene. Google’s Pixel Watch lineup still relies on the aging W5+ platform, and outside of Samsung’s in-house silicon efforts, there hasn’t been much movement. Even the best Wear OS devices fall short in hardware-related metrics like battery life. But a new leak might finally signal a change — and it could be big.

According to Android Authority insider Kamila Wojciechowska, Qualcomm is currently testing a new wearable chip, internally dubbed SW6100, and codenamed Aspen. While there’s no official branding just yet (W6 Gen 1? W5 Gen 2?), this leak gives us the clearest picture yet of where Wear OS hardware might be headed next.

Historically, Qualcomm’s approach to smartwatch chips has felt like an afterthought. Most Snapdragon Wear platforms have been Frankenstein's monsters, underpowered smartphone silicon with a bit of sensor glue and wireless duct tape. Even the much-touted W5+ Gen 1 leaned heavily on off-the-shelf IP for its QCC5100 coprocessor, rather than leveraging Qualcomm’s in-house capabilities.

But Aspen could mark a shift in priorities. The SW6100 is reportedly built on a TSMC process node — a good sign, given TSMC’s clear efficiency lead over Samsung fabs. Battery life improvements might come from another angle too: the chip upgrades its RAM controller to LPDDR5X, up from LPDDR4, offering more speed and better power efficiency.