Chip upgrades over the years

[PEVO]

There are many rumors for a S8 Chip that will be similar to the current S7 SoC (which is already similar to S6). So what do you think about the chip upgrades over the years on the Apple Watch? Apple has already reached a decent performance for a device like a smartwatch, so they don't need other upgrades? Like with the iPhone 14, which will probably have a A15 chip instead of A16, the Apple Watch needes even less performance on the year-over-year upgrade? This means that Apple Watch Series 6, which has basically the same SoC as the Series 8 (if the rumors will be confirmed), will be supported for many years with watchOS updates? What do you expect from the future Apple Watch models in terms of SoC?

 

[fwmireault]

I think it's likely that Apple Watch chip upgrade will stick on a two or three years schedule. I have the S7, and honestly, everything is smooth and fast enough so I don't care about getting more processing power. But maybe that Apple can make improvements in energy efficiency, if I can get the same speed and smoothness while getting a few more hours of battery life, I will certainly not complain. Battery life is more important than speed on a device as tiny as the AW. So I expect future SoC to improve in energy efficiency.

Regarding watchOS support, Apple doesn't decide which devices get the latest OS strictly based on the SoC. For example, iOS 15 will not be available for iPhone 7 that runs an A10, while the iPad 7th gen with the exact same chip will get iPadOS 16. But I think it's likely that the number of years of support of watchOS will increase to get maybe a year or two more than what we have now, as the hardware and the software are both pretty mature.

 

[Howard2k]

Agreed, greater efficiency seems to be what's needed right now.

 

[dgdosen]

So - the S8 is out - and looks to be very similar to the S6/S7. Is it based on TSMC 7nm? I'd think switching to a different node would boost battery life on these things. I wonder why Apple is avoiding investing in the chip?

 

[PEVO]

So - the S8 is out - and looks to be very similar to the S6/S7. Is it based on TSMC 7nm? I'd think switching to a different node would boost battery life on these things. I wonder why Apple is avoiding investing in the chip?

This means that Apple will discontinue the software support in the same year for S6/S7/S8, or that S6 users has still the newest hardware, so their smartwatch will be supported for many years from now?

 

[Limitless Ligamenti]

Does anybody know, when the last time apple actually updated the S-Chip?
I know that they rename it every year. So now we have the S8 Chip. But I haven‘t seen them compare the latest watch chip to the previous generation (in terms of speed etc.) in years.
So my question is: do we still have the S5 or S6 chip but they just renamed it?

 

[goobot]

So - the S8 is out - and looks to be very similar to the S6/S7. Is it based on TSMC 7nm? I'd think switching to a different node would boost battery life on these things. I wonder why Apple is avoiding investing in the chip?

Probably due to the chip shortage

Does anybody know, when the last time apple actually updated the S-Chip?
I know that they rename it every year. So now we have the S8 Chip. But I haven‘t seen them compare the latest watch chip to the previous generation (in terms of speed etc.) in years.
So my question is: do we still have the S5 or S6 chip but they just renamed it?

S6 was the last time. So S7 and 8 are identical. S5 is also the same as S4

 

[tagy]

The he S8 etc is a sip not a soc, it is the entire system in a package not just the soc.

So there are at least some changes going from the S7 to S8, the new accelerometer at least.

 

[the future]

Exactly. S6, S7 and S8 are not „identical“, but there was no speed increase.

 

[CWallace]

Apple probably feels the compute performance of the current SIP is good enough (and it is not like the Apple Watch has added features every generation that would benefit from a large compute performance jump).

I do hope we get a new SIP in the S9 including at least Bluetooth 5.3 and perhaps 5G (if Apple feels their in-house 5G modem is ready as I do not see them licensing a third-party 5G radio). Not sure Apple would go with 3nm, but I could see a process shrink to 5nm or 4nm.

 

[Howard2k]

Probably wrong, but AppleInsider claims that the S8 is 20% faster than the S7.

A dual-core 64-bit S8 SiP powers both the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. The company says this is 20% faster than the S7. The new models also include the W3 and U1 chips. The Apple Watch Ultra introduces Bluetooth 5.3 into the product line, but the Apple Watch Series 8 sticks with Bluetooth 5.0.

Compared: Apple Watch Ultra vs. Apple Watch Series 8 & Series 7 - Apple Watch Discussions on AppleInsider Forums

The Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra are the company's newest wearable accessories, and these are the features that might tempt new buyers or Apple Watch Series 7 owners.

forums.appleinsider.com

 

[MrGimper]

Probably wrong, but AppleInsider claims that the S8 is 20% faster than the S7.

A dual-core 64-bit S8 SiP powers both the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. The company says this is 20% faster than the S7. The new models also include the W3 and U1 chips. The Apple Watch Ultra introduces Bluetooth 5.3 into the product line, but the Apple Watch Series 8 sticks with Bluetooth 5.0.

Compared: Apple Watch Ultra vs. Apple Watch Series 8 & Series 7 - Apple Watch Discussions on AppleInsider Forums

The Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra are the company's newest wearable accessories, and these are the features that might tempt new buyers or Apple Watch Series 7 owners.

forums.appleinsider.com

I thought I read somewhere that the CPU has the same model number on on the 7 and the 8 (CPU is not the entire SiP obviously)

 

[CWallace]

Probably wrong, but AppleInsider claims that the S8 is 20% faster than the S7.

The new Apple Watch SE has the S8 SIP and that is 20% faster than the S5 SIP in the old Apple Watch SE per Apple's marketing, so I think the sites reporting the S8 is 20% faster than the S7 are confusing things.