Google Pixel Watch last-minute leak reveals comically large bezels

Yeesh, the Google Pixel Watch looks set to have some seriously chunky bezels on its round watch face, going by some images posted by WinFuture’s Roland Quandt on Twitter.

From various official and unofficial quick looks at Google’s upcoming smartwatch, the narrative around the Pixel Watch’s screen bezels has had plenty of twists and turns. One advert seemingly from Google itself indicated that the bezels are slimmer than we first thought and the display takes up more of that round watch face than first meets the eye.

But then other leaked images of premature unboxings, have shown that the Watch’s bezels are indeed rather chunky. 

Now Quandt’s images, seemingly taken from leaked marketing materials ahead of the Google October event on October 6, hammer home that the Pixel Watch will have almost comically large bezels and a lot less screen space to tap on. 

Now the look of Google’s Wear OS and its rounded design would appear to give the Pixel Watch the illusion of having a larger screen, or at least obscuring the thick bezels. And to my eyes, these images still present a rather attractive smartwatch, albeit one that perhaps doesn't have the computer-on-a-wrist promise of the Apple Watch 8 or Apple Watch Ultra.

And at a time when all manner of devices are using smart engineering and display tech to keep bezels at a minimum, allowing for more screen space in compact device packages, Google seems to be swimming in the other direction compared to others; notably the Apple Watch Series 7 brought in a design that dramatically pushed its screen closer to the watch face's edges.

Having said that, the likes of the excellent Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 still have notable bezels around on their watch faces. So it would seem that there’s still a challenge in making a round smartwatch that doesn’t compromise on relative display size.

We have to put Pixel Watch through its paces and see if the decision to have chunky bezels was a mistake or if it simply becomes unnoticeable due to a slick Wear OS experience.

Be sure to see our guide on how to watch the Google event, as well as our Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro hubs to see all the last-minute rumors and leaks.