The Pixel Watch and Wear OS 3 may not be ready until the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro launch event in October
The Pixel Watch may not be ready in time for Google I/O 2022, scheduled for May 11. According to Jon Prosser, Google may tease the Pixel Watch at this year's developer conference, as reports suggested previously. Allegedly, Google has reverted to its original plan of announcing the Pixel 6a at Google I/O 2022, discussed separately. It too is not expected to launch until well after Google I/O 2022 ends, though.
Reportedly, Google will wait until October before it 'formally' announces the Pixel Watch, for some reason. Prosser adds that the Pixel Watch will join the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro hardware event instead, which he claims has been pencilled in for October. While launching the Pixel Watch alongside the Pixel 7 series may position it as a flagship device, releasing it in October will draw comparisons with Apple's next smartwatches, thought to be the Watch Series 8.
Additionally, an October release for the Pixel Watch throws the state of Wear OS 3 into doubt. Originally outlined at Google I/O 2021, the smartwatch OS debuted last year on the Galaxy Watch4 series. For reference, 9to5Google recently discovered numerous Wear OS 3 details within the Wear OS Smartphone Companion app, including screenshots of an upgraded Google Assistant.
Previously, Google asserted that existing Snapdragon Wear 4100-powered smartwatches would receive Wear OS 3 in 2H 2022. However, we doubt that Google would allow the likes of the TicWatch Pro 3 to reap the benefits of its new smartwatch OS before the Pixel Watch does. Hence, it seems unlikely that Mobvoi or Fossil's recent smartwatches will see Wear OS 3 before autumn rolls around, at the earliest.
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