The long-rumored Pixel Watch might finally arrive next year

Google has been developing its own Wear OS software platform since 2014, but in all that time, the company has never sold a Google-branded smartwatch with the software. There have been rumors of a smartwatch with the Pixel brand (or simply Google’s name) for years, and according to a new report from Business Insider, it might happen for real next year.

According to Business Insider (via The Verge), Google is working on a smartwatch that it plans to release next year, under the codename Rohan. It will supposedly run the latest version of Wear OS, paired with a circular design, “no physical bezel,” and health and fitness tracking. Business Insider was not able to determine if Google will produce the watch in multiple sizes, like Samsung does with its Galaxy Watch series.

Unfortunately, not only does the watch reportedly require daily charging (like some other Wear OS smartwatches), but it also supposedly uses proprietary watch bands. Apple also uses proprietary bands on its watches, but Fossil, Samsung, Mobvoi, and other companies use standard bands on their Wear OS smartwatches — giving those watches thousands of affordable options for replacement bands.

The LG Watch Sport (left) and Watch Style (right), which reportedly came from Google’s first attempt at a Pixel Watch.

There have been many rumors about a possible Pixel Watch over the years. Evan Blass (@evleaks on Twitter) reported in 2018 that a Pixel-branded watch was going to arrive alongside the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and WinFuture said the watch would come in three variants with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100. Google confirmed later in August 2018 that it wouldn’t release a Pixel Watch that year, and Business Insider claimed in 2019 that the watches were ultimately cancelled and re-worked into the LG Watch Sport and Watch Style.

More recently, Front Page Tech published a video about the Pixel Watch, which mentions the same ‘Rohan’ codename as this latest report. However, it’s not clear if the render images shown in the video match Google’s current hardware design.

The post The long-rumored Pixel Watch might finally arrive next year appeared first on xda-developers.