Years of rumors are finally coming true today – Google is finally launching the Pixel Watch. Google has been developing a smartwatch operating system for eight years, but has yet to release smartwatch hardware under its own brand. That will change today, or at least “this fall,”when the Pixel Watch should hit store shelves.
Google only gave a sneak peek of the Pixel Watch on Wednesday and didn’t reveal any specs or price. The watch includes Fitbit integration, expected Google apps, and a design that was leaked earlier. The front is all glass with the rotating crown in place. Stainless steel case, detachable straps. It supports NFC for touch and pay, and there’s also a new Google Home app.
Google’s smartwatch operating system, first called “Android Wear”and now “Wear OS”, has been dormant for years in both the hardware and software categories. Qualcomm choked off the Android smartwatch market by going six years between major smartwatch system-on-a-chip releases, and Google allowed three years between major Wear OS updates. Google launched a plan to revive its smartwatch platform last year with the release of Wear OS 3 and a serious, more trusted hardware partner in Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 ditched Samsung’s Tizen OS and is the first (and so far only) Wear OS 3 watch. So far, the plan is working, with Counterpoint Research tracking the huge increase in Wear OS market share year on year, and the OS is now at arm’s length from Apple watch.
The Galaxy Watch 4 has Wear OS, but with a Samsung-focused skin that doesn’t include many core features like Google Assistant. The Pixel Watch will be the second Wear OS 3 device, but this is the first time anyone gets a real, unmodified look at what Google has created.