The Galaxy Watch 7’s new Exynos chip brings remarkable performance improvements

Summary

• Samsung will announce the Galaxy Watch 7 series later this month with better performance and battery life.
• The company has unveiled the Exynos W1000, featuring a 5-core CPU, Arm Mali-G68 MP2 GPU, and 32GB eMMC storage.
• The chip promises up to 3.7x faster multi-core performance and improved efficiency.

Samsung is gearing up to announce the Galaxy Watch 7 series alongside its 2024 foldable lineup at an Unpacked event on July 10. Leaks indicate the company’s upcoming smartwatches could sport a new 3nm Exynos SoC for better performance and battery life. Ahead of the watch’s debut, Samsung has officially taken wraps off the Exynos W1000, its latest wearable SoC that will do duty inside the Galaxy Watch 7.

Since the Galaxy Watch 4 launch in 2021, Samsung’s smartwatch lineup has used its 5nm Exynos W920 or an upgraded variant supporting newer connectivity standards. While this chip was cutting-edge in 2021, it feels dated in 2024. That’s why Samsung has unveiled its successor today, the W1000.

Fabricated on Samsung Foundry’s 3nm GAA, the company’s latest wearable chip packs a 5-core CPU with a big Cortex-A78 core clocked at 1.6GHz and a low-power cluster of four Cortex-A55 cores running at 1.5GHz. An Arm Mali-G68 MP2 GPU accompanies the CPU, supporting up to qHD (960 x 540) resolution displays. The chip uses the Fan-Out Panel Level Packaging (FO-PLP) for better heat dissipation and smaller size.

The newer CPU cores and cutting-edge fabrication process should make the W1000 more efficient than its predecessor. It is also the world’s first wearable SoC to pack 5 CPU cores using Arm’s big.LITTLE architecture.

So, how do the new CPU and GPU help in real life? Samsung claims impressive improvements, with up to 3.4x faster single-core and 3.7x faster multi-core performance. Apps should also open up to 2.7x quicker for a better user experience.

Samsung’s latest wearable SoC packs some notable upgrades

A 2.5D always-on display engine will seemingly provide a better experience and show more elements in the low-power display mode. The chip uses LPDDR5 memory and packs 32GB of eMMC storage. The integrated Exynos model supports Wi-Fi n, LTE Cat.4, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo.

Given the improvements the Exynos W1000 packs, the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7 should deliver noticeably better performance than previous Galaxy Watches. It should also be more efficient, helping improve the watch’s overall runtime. With the next Unpacked event taking place in a week, we won’t have to wait long to know what Samsung’s latest wearable Exynos chip is capable of.