Moto 360 leak just revealed powerful Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 rival

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Motorola's next premium smartwatch may have just leaked

Moto 360 (2019)
(Image credit: Motorola)

A third-gen Moto 360 may have been discovered after an in-depth examination of a recent leak. 

We already knew three new Moto-branded watches were coming this year, thanks to a leak last week. But a blown-up image from another part of the documents has revealed a fourth unknown smartwatch. And it could have the power to take on the big players like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.

The images come from official Motorola investor material (via Reddit user TheMacJezza). This watch isn't labeled, but when examined more closely, we can see the name of the Qualcomm-made Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset etched onto the bottom of the watch's body. 

Moto 360 2021

An annotated version of the image showing the presence of a Wear 4100 chip. (Image credit: TheMacJezza/Reddit)

This is the same chipset found in the TicWatch Pro 3, which, while not the perfect fitness companion, still offers snappy performance and long battery life. Currently, no other smartwatches are using this latest chip, which makes this new Moto 360 even more interesting.

Also visible in these images are NFC and wireless charging, indicated by the telltale coils of copper wire. These are both handy features to have on a smartwatch, so we're glad to see them here.

The last Moto 360 launched in 2019, using a far less powerful Snapdragon Wear 3100 and running on Wear OS, Google's open-source wearables software. It wasn't made by Motorola itself, but a separate company licensing the name.

If rumors of the Galaxy Watch 4 using Wear OS instead of Samsung's own Tizen OS are true, then the Galaxy Watch and Moto 360 will be directly competing on hardware. That'll be a difficult job for the Moto 360, since rumors and leaks point to the Galaxy Watch 4 getting powerful new features like blood glucose monitoring.

The rebooted Moto 360 from 2019 wasn't up to par with the best smartwatches around. However Motorola is having another attempt, and perhaps this time around, with a more muscular processor, it has a chance at beating the Galaxy Watch and the rumored Apple Watch 7 on features and price.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.