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Poll: Does Samsung's Wear OS smartwatch need a faster processor?
- Samsung’s Wear OS smartwatch is rumored to be the Galaxy Watch Active 4.
- It would include a new 5nm chip and a fresh design with thinner bezels.
- Does it really need new hardware to succeed?
Rumors are already circulating around the planned Samsung Wear OS smartwatch mere hours after its announcement. 9to5Google reports that well-known leaker Ice Universe claims to have details of the new wristwear, including a significant performance upgrade.
The Wear OS device will reportedly be the Galaxy Watch Active 4 (no, there was never an Active 3) and use a “new 5nm processor,” although the tipster didn’t say what exact chip Samsung would use. It would have narrowed bezels, flat glass, and an “excellent frame texture” that might involve a titanium alloy.
Read more: Google’s Fitbit and Samsung collaborations could save Wear OS
WinFuture‘s Roland Quandt also contributed a claim that Samsung would offer one each of aluminum and stainless steel variants for its Wear OS watch.
We’d treat the rumor cautiously when there isn’t supporting evidence, even though Ice Universe has a good track record. However, it does raise a question: do you feel the Samsung Wear OS watch needs to use a faster processor than in previous watches? Let us know in our poll below.
Does the Samsung Wear OS watch need a faster processor?
There’s a compelling case to be made for a newer chip. While you wouldn’t call the Galaxy Watch 3 slow, it’s still using relatively old processing power that doesn’t stack up well against rivals like the Apple Watch and might create a bad impression of Google’s platform. A new processor would not only help Samsung outperform the majority of Wear OS watches on the market, but could deliver lengthy battery life that has often been a problem for Google-powered wearables.
Newer processors aren’t always beneficial, though. Updated technology could raise prices and push Samsung out of competition with a horde of affordable Wear OS devices. Existing hardware also gives the company a chance to optimize for familar hardware. Arguably, Samsung only needs to offer “good enough” performance — it’s the software that will make or break this product.
Whichever way you stand, feel free to elaborate on your poll response in the comments below.