Frameless Pixel watch could arrive in 2022

Google could finally be ready to announce its frameless smartwatch. The gadget could reportedly be codenamed "Rohan" and will air in 2022

Dec 3, 2021 - 17:57
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Frameless Pixel watch could arrive in 2022

Google could finally be ready to announce its smartwatch, according to a Business Insider report. The gadget, which may or may not be called the Pixel Watch, is reportedly codenamed "Rohan" and is also called the Android watch internally.

The wearable device is round and has no frames, as the leaked renders suggest. It will likely launch Wear OS, a platform co-developed by Google and Samsung that debuted in the Galaxy Watch 4 series.

Google’s ambitions for smartwatches date back to 2016 when it reportedly gave up on the launch it had planned at the time. The company instead turned its attention to a smartwatch OS and earlier this year bought watchmaker Fitbit.

Although the upcoming Pixel Watch will not fall under the Fitbit brand, its software may have some elements of Fitbit and the integration is internally called "Nightlight". The CEO of Fitbit previously revealed that the popular Fitbit features will come in Wear watches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heTuCVLKwk8

Today’s report also says the Fitbit Group is now part of the device and services unit, and the Fitbit team is now working with Google employees working on wearables. Not surprisingly, the information that the Pixel Watch is expected to have health and fitness-focused features, including a heart rate monitor and a step count function.

The current version of the device lasts one day and charges slowly. Google is also planning a large selection of watch straps, twenty to be exact, if an earlier leak is to be believed. Google obviously wants to ensure that the wearable device will be comfortable to carry for the majority of the population, which implies that it could be in different sizes.

The watch is currently in the "dogfooding" testing phase, which means that it is used by Google employees. If everything goes according to plan, the clock could be announced in the spring of 2022.

With the Pixel Watch, it seems that Google is not only looking at the success of the Apple Watch but also at the HealthKit ecosystem of the Cupertino giant. It seems to be on the right track, given that its renovated watch platform reportedly had 17 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2021, up 14 percent from the same quarter last year. Apple, on the other hand, fell 22 percent from 28 percent.

Verge added to the report that the Pixel Watch will be more expensive than Fitbit’s offering, meaning it will cost more than $ 300. It remains to be seen whether it will delight us and find a place among the best smartwatches available today.

Earlier, it was expected that Google would present its first smartwatch together with the Pixel 6 series, but the launch was postponed, allegedly due to a lack of chips.