The OnePlus smartwatch hasn’t had a particularly smooth journey. The once-scrapped project recently got revived, with OnePlus teasing us on what’s to come, only for it to then face significant delays.
But delays can’t stop the wheels of the hype train from moving, and the leakers have more information to share about what we can expect from the OnePlus watch when it arrives - whenever that may be.
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Leaker Max Jambor, who has already revealed a number of things about the OnePlus Watch, has claimed that the device will not run Google’s Wear OS. Which is a shock, since everything we’ve heard so far suggests that it would.
OnePlus Watch does not run Googles WearOS pic.twitter.com/o02jn1AlJiNovember 7, 2020
Jambor is known for leaking reliable OnePlus information in the past, including the detail that OnePlus was working on a smartwatch with a round design. He was also the one to break the news that the watch had been delayed, which he guessed was due to "complications with the production or software development."
Not running the watch on Google’s Wear OS would be a big move for OnePlus, especially since that would probably end up with it developing it's own watch-centric software. After all if OnePlus was going to use a third party OS on its upcoming wearable, Wear OS is the least painful option since it doesn’t involve trying to negotiate usage rights and licences.
Saying this it’s also possible that using a brand new OS would be beneficial to OnePlus’ parent company BBK Electronics; the same company that owns the likes of Oppo, Vivo, and RealMe. Many of its sister companies already have smartwatches, though they all have rectangular watchfaces and run Wear OS. OnePlus could be leading the way for a new wave of round smartwatches to come out of the company, each sharing a common BBK-made operating system.
But that’s just speculation, we won’t know for sure until any announcements are made. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing this watch anytime soon, so don’t hold your breath waiting for news. Rest assured we’ll bring you more if we hear about it.
