It was love at first sight with the Pixel Watch design, but a 2018 chip would sink our excitement into icy waters faster than the Titanic.

Google's SVP of Devices and Services Rick Osterloh decided to cancel it back in 2016 because he feared its lackluster performance would "bring down the name of the Google hardware brand." He evidently gave it a second chance, though, and ironically was the one to unveil it on stage at Google I/O 2022 last week.

A source told 9to5Google that the Pixel Watch uses the Exynos 9110 SoC, the same chip found in the original Galaxy Watch, the Galaxy Watch Active 2, and Galaxy Watch 3.

Samsung originally announced the chip in 2018, so it'll be over four years old when the Pixel Watch ships this fall?

The 10nm 9110 uses two ARM Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.15 GHz, whereas the 5nm Exynos W920 with Cortex A55 cores used in the Galaxy Watch 4 has 20% better CPU performance and 10X better graphical performance, according to Samsung.

Even if Google had abandoned the original Pixel Watch design by 2019, it evidently conceived of the current model between that point and April 2021, when Jon Prosser leaked renders that matched the final design. ?

An old chip doesn't necessarily doom the Pixel Watch, and Google could certainly do worse than ape Samsung's successes.

When Google began designing the Pixel Watch, the Galaxy Watch series outclassed every watch not made by Apple, and Tizen made Wear OS look inferior for years until Google gave up and joined forces with Samsung for Wear OS 3.

And Pixel owners will certainly enjoy the interplay between their phone and watch, even if the performance isn't cutting-edge. .

If we want any greater evidence Google hardware is just a vanity project, as AC's Jerry Hildenbrand argued yesterday, it's Google lackadaisically launching a watch that the Galaxy Watch 5 will instantly surpass.

"As someone with a Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, I'm not sure the Pixel Watch seems as exciting if it's running the same chipset as my old Galaxy Watches.".

Google is freely playing second-fiddle to Samsung with the Pixel Watch, the same way it does with its phones!

But it doesn't change the fact that Google is freely playing second-fiddle to Samsung with the Pixel Watch, the same way it does with its phones. .

Samsung will stop supporting its last Exynos 9110 watch, the Galaxy Watch 3, in late 2023.

If Google also supports its Exynos 9110 watch for three years through late 2025, that'd be seven years after the chip first launched

I can only hope Google finds a way to reassure us that this archaic tech won't hold the Pixel Watch back