Pixel Watch may arrive in Spring 2022 sporting a bezel-less design and Fitbit elements
Google may finally be ready to release its smartwatch, a report from Business Insider indicates. The accessory, which may or may not be called the Pixel Watch, is allegedly codenamed "Rohan," and is also referred to as the Android watch internally.
The wearable is round and has no bezels, as has been suggested by leaked renders. It will probably run Wear OS, the platform that Google and Samsung jointly developed which debuted on the Galaxy Watch 4 series.
Google's smartwatch ambitions go back as far as 2016 when it reportedly scrapped a launch it was planning at that time. The company instead turned its attention to smartwatch OS and earlier this year acquired the watchmaker Fitbit.
Although the forthcoming Pixel Watch will not fall under the Fitbit branding, its software may have some elements of Fitbit and the integration is internally codenamed "Nightlight." Fitbit's CEO had earlier revealed that popular Fitbit features would come to Wear watches.
Today's report also says that the Fitbit group is now a part of the Devices and Services unit and the Fitbit team now works with the Google employees working on wearables. The Pixel Watch is unsurprisingly expected to have health- and fitness-centric features, including a heart-rate monitor and step counting feature.
The current version lasts a day on a charge and it charges slowly. Google is also planning proprietary watchbands, twenty to be exact if an earlier leak is to be believed. Google apparently wants to ensure that the wearable would be comfortable to wear for the majority of the population, which implies it might come in various sizes.
Pixel Watch release date
The watch is currently in the "dogfooding" testing phase, which means it's being used by Google employees. If everything goes per plan, the watch may be announced in Spring 2022.
With the Pixel Watch, Google doesn't just seem to be eyeing the success of the Apple Watch, but also the Cupertino giant's HealthKit ecosystem. It does appear to be on the right track, given that its revamped watch platform reportedly had 17 percent of the market in Q3 2021, up 14 percent from the year-ago quarter. Apple's on the other hand declined to 22 percent from 28 percent.
Google was earlier expected to unveil its first smartwatch alongside the Pixel 6 but the launch was reportedly delayed because of the chip shortage.
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