Throughout Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2025, I had the possibility to take a seat down with one of many firm’s executives to speak about wearables.
Dino Bekis is the VP & GM of Wearables & Combined Sign Options at Qualcomm. Our wide-ranging dialogue included an in-depth have a look at two of the most important weaknesses of in the present day’s smartwatches: battery life and charging.
At the moment, most watches working Google’s Put on OS can solely final one full day on a single cost, whereas a big selection of proprietary infrastructure makes charging a nightmare.
Bekis confirmed that longer battery life was a goal for Qualcomm:
“Individuals need to have this idea of tremendous superior efficiency and functionality, and I additionally need to have a three-week battery life. From our perspective, with the ability to get to one thing that’s in all probability nearer to every week is an effective goal.”
Present options on Snapdragon processors declare as much as 100 hours, which is within the three-to-four-day vary. Bekis reiterated that seven days is a very good goal “with none equivocation or quibbling”.
Chris Martin / Foundry
So, how will we get there?
Qualcomm performs an enormous function in bettering smartwatch battery life. Its chips are on the coronary heart of most Put on OS watches, to allow them to have an enormous bearing on stamina.
Bekis defined how the corporate is working in direction of the seven-day objective:
“We have a look at course of node as a strategy to, possibly extra of a brute power method, to attempt to drive energy consumption down. The opposite issues we have a look at are what can we offload, what are {hardware} accelerators, we will placed on that require much less foremost CPU advanced overhead?”
He defined that the less instances the principle processor must get up to carry out a operate, the higher.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
“That’s tightly coupled with once we work with the parents at Google on Put on OS or on Android. What are the issues that we will do within the working system in order that we will benefit from these {hardware} offload options that we’re constructing in?”
He added that the corporate appears to be like at typical use instances so as to optimise the issues folks need to do with a smartwatch day by day.
How lengthy will it take?
It’s a future all of us need, however Bekis indicated that the week-long Put on OS battery life dream may take some time to change into a actuality:
“One of many issues that we like to make use of is a determine of benefit. As you go era to era, you need to be possibly a doubling of battery life. And which may be type of the theoretical most. However whenever you have a look at what we’re doing, I believe we’re very near with the ability to get to possibly a five-day battery life via a mix of all these items I discussed.”
“I believe we’re very near with the ability to get to possibly a five-day battery life”
“And I believe that will be an enormous step ahead, particularly for a high-function watch. And even with {hardware} designs, there’s a number of iterations you’ll be able to have on the software program to enhance it.
“So, essentially the most aggressive I’d say is possibly two to a few years, relying on how issues go. Perhaps essentially the most conservative possibly 5 to 6 years, however I believe it’s measured inside that type of slender window the place we will get to 6 to seven day battery life for typical use instances.”
What about charging?
I additionally requested Bekis about charging as a result of it’s such a ache level of smartwatches in the meanwhile. With so many requiring their very own proprietary chargers to energy themselves in any respect, it’s the rationale I didn’t deliver a smartwatch to the summit.
Mattias Inghe
He foresees a future the place that is much less of a problem:
“I believe it’s shifting to wi-fi charging. I do. You already know, the times of the four-pin and three-pin connector and all these are completely different shapes, I imply, that’s beginning to go away. While you have a look at what Samsung’s carried out with a bit little bit of magazine block or MagSafe charging the place it snaps in magnetically, I believe that’s a very good step ahead.”
“However wi-fi charging is the place it’s going to finish up; it’s simply pure and the whole lot will converge. The effectivity, the timing, I believe we will get everybody there shortly.”
“It’ll feed on itself the place customers will say, hey, I don’t need to have 14 gadgets I’ve to plug in, I simply need to usher in one factor, it’s going to be a pad, I’m going to place my stuff on the pad and so they’ll simply cost.”
“I’d wish to imagine it’s going to occur within the subsequent 5 years, however what they are saying about predictions, proper? They by no means occur as quick as you need.
There you have got it. Nice Put on OS battery life and easy charging is inside attain, however you may need to attend for a couple of extra years.
Don’t need to wait? In our complete greatest smartwatches information, the fashions that don’t run on Put on OS or Apple’s watchOS usually provide for much longer battery life.
Qualcomm paid for my journey, airfare, and meals to journey to its Snapdragon Know-how Summit. The corporate didn’t ask for or exert management over Tech Advisor’s content material, together with how this interview was reported.