Qualcomm may be preparing next-gen 'Snapdragon Wear 5100' platform

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 4100 successor may come with a quad-core CPU featuring ARM Cortex-A73 cores.

What you need to know

• A new leak suggests the next wearable chip from Qualcomm will be called Snapdragon Wear 5100.
• The next-gen platform is apparently codenamed "monaco."
• The leak also hints at the Snapdragon Wear 4100 successor being based on Qualcomm's existing "bengal" mobile platform.

Qualcomm could be working on a new wearable chip to compete with Samsung's rumored Exynos W920 chipset. The folks at XDA Developers have spotted code for an upcoming Qualcomm wearable chipset codenamed "monaco." The upcoming platform will likely succeed the Snapdragon Wear 4100, which powers some of the best Android smartwatches.

The new code was uploaded by Qualcomm to its Code Aurora Forum last week with build ID "LAW.UM.2.0-00700-SW5100.0." "LAW" is said to stand for "Linux Android Wear," while "SW5100" is believed to be short for the platform's possible marketing name, Snapdragon Wear 5100.

The code reveals that the "monaco" platform is being developed on top of Linux kernel 5.4, but it isn't clear if the platform is based on Android 11. While Android 11 is listed in the CAF releases page, the shipping API level in a config file points to the platform being based on Android 10. Since Google has already confirmed that the Wear OS 3 update will come to some existing smartwatches powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 4100, the upcoming platform is expected to fully support Google's new wearable operating system.

As per XDA, the commit history and configuration files suggest "monaco" is based on the chipmaker's "bengal" platform, which happens to be the codename for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 662 and 460 mobile platforms. The two 11nm chips, which were announced alongside the mid-range Snapdragon 720G last year, feature four ARM Cortex-A73 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores.

"Monaco", however, could come with a quad-core CPU featuring ARM's Cortex-A73 cores. For reference, Qualcomm's current Snapdragon 4100 uses four ARM Cortex-A53 cores. This suggests the next-gen wearable platform from Qualcomm will be a decent upgrade over the Snapdragon 4100 in terms of performance.

Since Qualcomm has already confirmed plans to help push the Wear OS market forward, it may not take long for more details to surface online.