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New Moto smartwatches will end the wait for more Snapdragon Wear 4100 models

The next Moto smartwatch will reportedly come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 processor, according to a road map published as part of an investor presentation from CE Brands, the current holders of the license to make Moto-branded smartwatches. The report states more than one new Moto smartwatch will come later this year — a Moto G Smartwatch, a Moto One, and a Moto Watch, but we don’t know which ones will use the new chip yet.

TheMacGezza/Reddit.com

Several renders of what could be the Moto G watch can be found throughout the investor report, but one, in particular, caught the attention of smartwatch fans on Reddit. The image was sharpened to reveal what appears to be text reading “Snapdragon Wear 4100” around the edge of the case back. The implication is clear, a smartwatch running the Wear 4100 platform should be on the way.

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The Snapdragon Wear 4100 is a rarity in the smartwatch world. Most Wear OS smartwatches you can buy today are powered by Qualcomm’s older Snapdragon Wear 3100 chips, with the sole exception of the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3. The previous Moto 360, released in 2020, also used a Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip.

If any of the new Moto smartwatches do arrive with the Wear 4100 processor, they will have a hardware advantage over rivals, offering faster performance and longer battery life. The Ticwatch Pro 3 shows what this means for you, with its excellent three-day-plus battery life, and significant speed advantages over smartwatches using the older Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform. Given all the improvements the new chip offers, it has taken significant time for companies to adopt them, perhaps due to perceived hardware gains not being enough to offset the development costs involved. Regardless, it’s great to see the wait for more models with the chip may almost be over.

According to the investor report road map, the new Moto G smartwatch is scheduled to launch in June, and if the renders represent the final product, it will come in a silvery-white color and have a round screen. In July, a square-faced Moto Watch and round Moto One smartwatch are also planned. However, before we get too excited, it’s not clear which models will feature the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip, and it’s also worth remembering these dates are probably not final, so things may change over the coming months.

Michael Allison
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
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