Pixel Watch 2 passes another hurdle on its way to launch

With Google‘s Fall 2023 event drawing closer, leaks about the next-gen Pixels have gotten more frequent. While the Pixel 8 series will be the star of the show, which should take place in October, the company also has the Pixel Watch 2 in the pipeline. Over the past few weeks, we have seen the new watch in various certification listings, including the FCC and Google Play Console. It has just picked up the IMDA certification as well.

The IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) is a Singaporean regulatory body. It has certified the Pixel Watch 2 for launch in the country. First spotted by MySmartPrice, the second-gen Google smartwatch is listed with the model number G4TSL on its website. As revealed by the FCC earlier this month, that’s the global Bluetooth/Wi-Fi version of the watch. The IMDA confirms this, adding that the device will support 2.4GHz Wi-Fi frequency.

Google will offer a 4G/LTE version of the Pixel Watch 2

Though not seen on the Singaporean agency’s website, the Pixel Watch 2 will also be available in a 4G/LTE version. The global 4G version has the model number GC3G8, while that for the US 4G version is GD2WG. Earlier leaks and certifications have revealed that Google will equip the watch with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 (SW5100) processor. It’s a 4nm chip with four Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked at up to 1.7GHz.

This is a massive upgrade over the original Pixel Watch‘s Samsung Exynos 9110 SoC. The 2018 chip is built on a 10nm process node and has only two Cortex-A53 CPU cores, with the frequency topping out at just 1.15GHz. While Google isn’t adding more RAM to its new watch (still has 2GB of RAM), it has upgraded the GPU. The Qualcomm Adreno 702 GPU on the Pixel Watch 2 operates at a 1,000MHz frequency.

The upcoming Google smartwatch is also getting a marginally bigger battery (306mAh vs. 294mAh). Coupled with features like Deep Sleep and Hibernation, as well as a more efficient Snapdragon processor, the Pixel Watch 2 should deliver a much longer battery life than the first-gen model. The power improvements brought by Android 13-based Wear OS 4 should also help boost the battery life of the new watch.

There are also rumors of Google offering UWB (ultra-wideband) connectivity on the Pixel Watch 2. The device will reportedly use an NXP SR100T UWB module for more precise device tracking and potential applications. However, neither the FCC nor the IMDA confirmed this feature. We might have to wait some more time for confirmation. The Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel 8 series are expected to arrive in the first half of October.