Following on from the recent successes of its Nord and 8 Pro smartphones, OnePlus is set to introduce its first smartwatch. So, what will it look like, how much will it cost, and when can you expect to have one on your wrist?
We gather together everything we know so far about the OnePlus Watch.
When will the OnePlus Watch be released?
Following months of speculation and leaks (detailed below) hinting at when we could expect the OnePlus Watch to materialise, OnePlus’ Pete Lau pushed out a post on OnePlus’ official forum on 17 March, confirming that the Watch exists, that it’s definitely called the ‘OnePlus Watch’ and that it’ll be launching alongside the OnePlus 9 Series on 23 March at 14:00 GMT.
As the post itself acknowledges, OnePlus fans have been holding out hope for an own-brand smartwatch for years. Take a look at this tweet, which refers to a post by former CEO, Carl Pei, back in 2016 where he revealed 2015 sketches for a smartwatch concept:
More things are coming to the OnePlus ecosystem. It’s just a matter of time🧐 pic.twitter.com/r6RIILU8AQ
— OnePlus (@oneplus)
October 14, 2020
More recently in December 2020, Lau went on record with Input confirming that a watch was in development, and subsequently tweeted that it would arrive in early 2021, but didn’t get any more specific than that at the time.
How much will the OnePlus Watch cost?
Some are pointing to the likes of the £229/US$296 Oppo Watch for reference, as the brand is a stablemate of OnePlus, alongside Realme and Vivo.
Vivo also released a smartwatch recently, the Vivo Watch, although it has yet to make its way to Europe or North America. In China, it’s priced around the £160/$200 mark, although those figures would rise with taxes in other territories.
If you’re after an affordable OnePlus wearable – although an India-exclusive for the time being – the company’s newly-launched fitness tracker – the OnePlus Band – is a comparative bargain, at around £25/€28/$34.
What design and specs will the OnePlus Watch have?
OnePlus’s Pete Lau has already laid out the design philosophy for the OnePlus Watch, “Our priority for devices that are part of the OnePlus ecosystem is to offer fashionable designs, provide seamless connectivity and deliver a best-in-class user experience. And the new OnePlus Watch is no exception. It will encompass:
- A stunning and burdenless design that separates itself from the crowd. To us, no detail is too small;
- Seamless connectivity between OnePlus smartphones, audio peripherals, smartwear devices, and even OnePlus TVs, making smart control over all these devices simple and intuitive;
- A best-in-class experience at an affordable price point, so that more of our global OnePlus users can enjoy our signature burdenless, seamlessly connected experience.”
Instead of waiting for the launch, OnePlus has already revealed an image of the OnePlus Watch, letting YouTuber UnboxTherapy show the design off on Twitter.
Here’s an EXCLUSIVE look at the #OnePlusWatch… #OnePlus9Series @oneplus 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/tKBUcXkuth
— Unbox Therapy (@UnboxTherapy)
March 19, 2021
You’ll spot a round watch face with two buttons on the right-hand side, what looks to be a metal body, and a silicone or rubber strap.
The round face should give the new watch a more striking look than those that follow in the footsteps of Apple’s all-conquering Watch and bring the OnePlus creation more into the territory of the excellent Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 that we reviewed recently.
In February 2021, TechnikNews found patent applications submitted to the German Patent and Trademark Office that show the OnePlus Watch with two strap designs: a silicon offering and a leather option.
It’s unknown whether OnePlus will sell these as two different variants at launch or whether the straps are simply replaceable and both will come in-box with each unit.
German Patent and Trademark Office via TechnikNews
Beyond the outer appearance, it is thought that OnePlus would use the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset to power its device.
As for software, contrary to expectations, the company has confirmed that the OnePlus Watch won’t come running Google’s Wear OS wearables operating system.
Lau said: “We chose to go with a smart wear operating system developed based on RTOS because we believe it provides you a smooth and reliable experience while offering a great battery life, covering some of the biggest concerns we’ve been hearing from people looking to buy a smartwatch.”
As such, we believe the OnePlus Watch will run on a more lightweight operating system compared to Wear OS that may pare back on richer ‘smart’ features, like voice recognition and instead focus on the fundamentals, with regards to notifications, fitness tracking and battery, in a similar fashion to the majority of Amazfit’s wearables, for example.
Hopefully, we’ll know more about the OnePlus Watch soon, but if you want to know what it will be up against when it finally arrives, take a look at our roundup of the best smartwatches.
