Despite rumors swirling around the past few weeks about Google releasing its Pixel Watch soon, Google has confirmed to Tom’s Guide that they won’t actually be releasing their very own Wear OS Watch this year. Instead, the search engine giant said they will be focusing all their efforts on working with smartwatch makers into implementing the updates they announced for the platform this IFA 2018.
“To think of a one-size-fits-all watch, I don’t think we’re there yet, Barr said. Our focus is on our partners for now,” Google’s director of engineering for Wear OS, Miles Barr told Tom’s Guide.
Evan Blass tweeted back in May that Google would be releasing the watch. Blass is usually reliable with leaks, so it’s possible that Google had planned the watch and has been delayed or cancelled.
Right now, Google is focusing on working with OEMs in approving their designs for their new smartwatches or firmware updates. Google would also like to suggest new features based on what people are looking for. Among the suggestions Google made to these companies are including heart rate sensors and NFC chips in their watches. The company is also working on releasing a new Wear OS update which would give Google Assistant a more pro-active role.
Rumors had suggested that Google would unveil a Pixel Watch alongside the Pixel 3 at its hardware event in October. However, Qualcomm is set to announce a new chip to power Google’s Wear OS devices and people expected that Google would use the new Qualcomm chip processor for its own smartwatch. This is a disappointment for those who believed these were the signs that Google was about to announce a Pixel Watch.
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Google, for now, is busy releasing the Wear OS update to current users and also those new devices – Skagen, Diesel and Casio – that were just announced at IFA 2018.
