Qualcomm rolls out Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 and W5 Gen 2 wearables

Qualcomm rolled out a dual-track update Thursday, unveiling an enhanced Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 for midrange smartphones and a new generation of wearables silicon, the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 and W5 Gen 2 Plus. The company says the 7s Gen 4 delivers a modest but meaningful performance lift for budget devices, while the W5 Gen 2 platform brings satellite connectivity, improved GPS accuracy, and a smaller, more power-efficient modem front end to smartwatches, exemplified by the Pixel Watch 4.

The Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 is positioned as an incremental upgrade to the entry to midrange segment. Qualcomm reports about a seven percent improvement in CPU and GPU performance over the prior generation, driven by a faster Prime core clock of up to 2.7 GHz and roughly parallel gains to the Adreno GPU. The new chip also supports higher-detail displays, with ultrawide WFHD panels at up to 2,900 by 1,300 pixels and refresh rates reaching 144 Hz. In imaging and video, the Spectra ISP can handle cameras up to 200 megapixels and 4K video at 30 frames per second, while a Low Light Vision feature extends better video quality in dim environments. On the AI front, a stronger Hexagon NPU enables on-device...