A Motorola Wear OS smartwatch planned with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor may have leaked (via 9to5Google) If the photos are real and not just rendered, it could be a sign that the next Moto 360 (or as it is called) can perform significantly better than the previous one and can reap some of the efficiency gains brought by the leap of a 28 nm to 12 nm process.
The 2019 Moto 360 used a Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which was just a minor update to the 2016 2100. Despite Qualcomm’s claims that the new (ish) 4100 has an 85 percent faster CPU, two and a half GPU faster and 25% longer battery life, it looks like there’s only one watch on the market that actually has the chip.
The image showing the potential watch (which also appears to show a wireless charging coil) was found in an investor presentation alongside three other smartwatches. The nameless watch has some text behind it, and when Reddit user TheMacJezza expanded and enhanced it, they saw that it looked like it said “Snapdragon Wear 4100”. I’m not logical, but that seems to imply that this Mystery Moto has a Snapdragon Wear 4100 on it (especially considering that the current Moto 360 has the processor name printed on the back as well).
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Motorola does not itself manufacture smartwatches under the Moto brand. The name was licensed to a company called eBuyNow, which launched the third generation of the Moto 360 in 2019. eBuyNow subsequently merged with another company called CE Brands, according to 9to5Google, who previously reported in an investor presentation containing details of the Moto brand hardware roadmap for 2021.
Correction: This article suggested that Moto brand smartwatches were still made by Motorola; it has been updated to reflect that the brand is licensed. The Verge regrets the mistake.