OnePlus smartwatch: Wear OS likely to be ditched
The much anticipated OnePlus smartwatch may not come running on Google’s Wear OS platform.
That’s the word according to tipster Max Jambor, who has been pretty vocal (and somewhat accurate) on the OnePlus smartwatch saga over the past few weeks.
Jambor took to Twitter to say:
OnePlus Watch does not run Googles WearOS pic.twitter.com/o02jn1AlJi
— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) November 7, 2020
It’s also worth noting that OnePlus is part of the China-based BBK Group, which also includes Oppo and Realme who have both entered the smartwatch space in 2020.
The Oppo Watch does run on Wear OS (the artist formerly known as Android Wear) but the Realme runs on a proprietary operating system.
The likes of Huawei and Samsung also have smartwatches on sale that feature in-house platforms as well so, if OnePlus does decide to enter the arena sans-Google, it will be in pretty good company.
A couple of weeks back Jambor suggested that the unveiling of the OnePlus smartwatch had been put on hold, despite the Chinese smartphone giant teasing its arrival back in October.
OnePlus themselves put out a tweet themselves saying, “More things are coming to the OnePlus ecosystem. It’s just a matter of time.”
That tweet included a sketch from 2016 that appeared to suggest a watch was in the works.
If this information proves accurate, then our wait for a OnePlus smartwatch goes on. It’s one that we first wrote about back in 2014, when alleged pictures first emerged of a device that used the name OnePlus OneWatch.
In 2015, cofounder Carl Pei who recently left the company, revealed it considered launching a smartwatch but it was canned at the last minute. Then earlier this year, a former employee revealed that OnePlus had been looking at smartwatches over the past year.
The name OnePlus Watch with a model number W301GB then appeared on an IMDA certification site listing the device as a wearable watch.
This has all happened over the last few months, adding fuel to speculation that a smartwatch announcement was on the horizon.
