Wear OS 3: Google confirms its new unified platform ditches all but two existing smartwatches

Google teased Wear OS 3.0 at I/O 2021 in May, which Samsung subsequently followed by unveiling One UI Watch, a fork of Google's new smartwatch platform. Plenty remains unknown about what either smartwatch OS will offer, but Google has now revealed which existing Wear OS smartwatches will receive an upgrade.

Apparently, only the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 will be brought onto Google's new version of Wear OS, which it is now calling Wear OS 3. Speculatively, this may be because the pair are the only smartwatches with Snapdragon Wear 4100 SoCs. By contrast, all other recent Wear OS smartwatches have the Snapdragon Wear 3100, a much slower predecessor based on the Snapdragon Wear 2100, a chip that Qualcomm released over five years ago.

There are catches to the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 receiving Wear OS 3, though. According to a support document, Google expects Mobvoi to start rolling out the OS upgrade in 'mid to second half of 2022'. Worse still, the same document confirms that the TicWatch Pro 3 and TicWatch E3 will need resetting before they can be upgraded to Wear OS 3.

In short, Google has abandoned practically every Wear OS smartwatch released in the last two years. Those left behind include the Fossil Gen 5, Gen 5E, Oppo Watch and the Suunto 7, which all utilise the Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC. Understandably, Wear OS fans are upset, particularly those that have recently invested in Google's smartwatch ecosystem.

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