Snapdragon Wear 3300 reportedly in the works for a massive Wear OS upgrade

The Snapdragon 3300 will be based on a 12nm fabrication process.

What you need to know

• A new Snapdragon Wear processor has been spotted in a recent commit from Qualcomm.
• The Snapdragon Wear 3300 will be based off of the Snapdragon 429 and use a 12nm fabrication process that would result in faster performance and better battery life.
• The current Snapdragon Wear 3100 is a 28nm processor.

For years now, Google's smartwatch platform — Wear OS — has lagged behind competitors. The biggest complaints have stemmed from lackluster performance, missing features, and of course, poor battery life.

While Google has the lion's share of the blame for ignoring the platform and providing little more than UI refreshes instead of compelling features, Qualcomm isn't off the hook. Its processors power the Wear OS platform and leave a lot to be desired by using an outdated 28nm fabrication process.

The reason nanometer-size matters has to do with the amount of power required and heat generated. Since smaller transistors require less power and generate less heat, that leads to improvements in performance as well as battery life.

Thankfully, it looks like Qualcomm is ready to step things up with its next-gen Wear OS processor. Recently, a recognized developer over at XDA-Developers came across a commit with reference to the new chip — referred to as the "SDW3300 device" or Snapdragon Wear 3300.

The new processor is rumored to be based on the Snapdragon 429 series of processors that used a 12nm fabrication process. There were even references to the Snapdragon 429 Spyro code-name found in the commit.

This would be a big upgrade for the next generation of Wear OS smartwatches. So far, there has been no official word on the new processor from Qualcomm or when we can expect to see the Snapdragon Wear 3300 launch. Hopefully, we won't be left waiting for nearly four years like we had to with the Snapdragon Wear 3100.

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