Google has been rumored to be working on a Pixel Watch for years now, and over that time we’ve heard rumors of development and cancelation of the project. Now, however, it seems as though the Pixel Watch is full steam ahead — at least according to new leaks from leaker Jon Prosser.
If accurate, the Pixel Watch could end up being one of the better-looking smartwatches out there. Unlike the Apple Watch, the device has a round display, and it looks relatively thin, which is always nice.
The leaked images aren’t actually photos or official renders of the Pixel Watch. According to Prosser, they’re instead renders created by an artist, based on images that Prosser received.
Prosser says that the renders not only recreate the hardware, but also the software. Google will reportedly be giving its wearable operating system, Wear OS, a bit of a refresh. The watch faces in the renders look relatively clean and stripped-back, which would match the overall experience on offer by devices like the Google Pixel 5 smartphone.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Pixel Watch. Notably, we still don’t know what the specs of the Pixel Watch are. Google has been rumored to be working on its own chips for the upcoming Pixel 6 smartphone, and it’s possible that the Pixel Watch will also have first-party silicon. That would likely make for a better experience than if the watch came with Qualcomm’s aging Snapdragon Wear 3100 chip.
When we’ll see the watch is also still not 100% certain. Prosser says that the device is currently scheduled for October, which would be in line with when we expect to see the Pixel 6 smartphone. That said, he notes that it’s possible the device will be pushed back, in which case we likely wouldn’t see it until 2021.
In recent months, it has been less a question of if Google would release a wearable, and more a question of when. That’s thanks to the fact that Google recently closed its acquisition of wearable manufacturer Fitbit. The acquisition, which was worth $2.1 billion, was first announced at the end of 2019, but since then we haven’t really seen or heard of any new wearable devices from Fitbit or Google.
Given the fact that there’s likely a lot of Fitbit influence in the Pixel Watch, we can expect that it’ll have a heavy emphasis on fitness tracking.
