With a Snapdragon W5+ under hood, we’ve been expecting this wearable since last summer
Smartphone hardware feels like it’s always in search of the cutting edge, with manufacturers stepping over each other in a race to bring the latest components and technologies to market. In contrast, the wearables market could not be more different, and we regularly see the launch of new smartwatches hobbled by ancient chipsets and aging software. Since last summer, we’ve been looking forward to wearables that would run Qualcomm’s next-gen processor, the Snapdragon W5+. Our first may finally be just around the corner, as what sure appears to be the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 just swung by the FCC.
Certification paperwork reveals a Mobvoi smartwatch with model number WH12088 (via Droid Life). Unsurprisingly, there’s little detail here outside antenna performance reports, but we do get to pick up a few interesting tidbits. While we don’t see any photographs of actual hardware, some line-art renderings of the TicWatch used to highlight its antenna placement appear consistent with the imagery we’ve already checked out.
One early spec these docs do share, and one that does manage to pique our interest, concerns battery life, with the claim that this wearable will get a 611mAh cell. While not a huge step forward, that would still be a minor improvement over the 595mAh component found in the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, or 577mAh in the Pro 3 Ultra.
Beyond the hardware, we’re also excited for the software set to arrive on this smartwatch, which should finally be a Mobvoi model running Wear OS 3. That club is far too small at the moment, and while we’re absolutely interested in seeing existing hardware upgraded, we’ll take all the new Wear OS 3 models we can get, too.
As for when the TicWatch Pro 5 might arrive, that’s a tricky question, and while Mobvoi was initially quite chatty about its intentions for the watch, it’s been a minute since we heard anything new. Hopefully we can start nailing down those release plans as spring approaches.
