Evan Blass, an industry insider who is known for his reliable smartphone leaks, has announced that we’ll see both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL launched at the Google fall hardware event as well as a Pixel Watch.
While it’s important to take any sort of leak with a grain of salt, Evan Blass has a pretty reliable track record when it comes to predicting smartphone launches. In the past, he has been responsible for breaking the news on a number of upcoming releases, and it’s no secret that the Pixel 3 is in development, leading us to believe that the launch date is legitimate.
Alongside the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3 XL, Google will launch the second-generation Pixel Buds, making for an overall pretty impressive lineup at their fall hardware event.
Even Blass Tweeted: Besides the Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, and second-gen Pixel Buds, a reliable source tells me — with high confidence — that Google’s fall hardware event will also introduce a Pixel-branded watch. Have a great summer!
While it was pretty realistic to expect the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL to launch this October, the news of a Pixel smartwatch and the next generation of Pixel Buds is new news that has many Android fans quite excited.
The launch of the second-generation Pixel buds is surprising given that there was a mixed reception when they first launched from both critics and consumers alike, but even more surprising is news of a Pixel smartwatch. Google had previously not expressed any interest in a first-party smartwatch so this news comes out of left-field even for Google aficionados
While we don’t know too much about what the Pixel Watch would feature so far, it’s likely that Google would follow a similar philosophy to the way they approached the Pixel 3. We can expect both an ultra-premium design as well as some sort of template that other manufacturers may be able to follow in the future.
While Google was late to the smartphone game and has only recently started manufacturing first-party devices, they have already established themselves as one of the most successful brands. New doesn’t necessarily mean innovative, but Google has managed to offer a device that competes with the best of Apple and Samsung who have both been in the smartphone game a lot longer.
The Pixel Watch may be the first first-party smartwatch from the company, but Google’s China division has increased its commitment to wearables last year – presumably in an effort to build the precursors to the Pixel Watch. Android Wear has also been rebranded to Wear OS in an effort to be more inclusive, which means there may be more newcomers to the smartwatch game.
Although Android Wear has been around for around four years, it still lags far behind the user base of the Apple Watch. Google’s rebranding into Wear OS is an effort to market the device to iPhone users who make up one in every three Android smartwatch owners. This rebranding will likely help companies avoid confusion for those who think the devices only work on Android.
Backing up this claim of the Pixel Watch is a statement from Qualcomm on Tuesday that confirms a follow-up to the Snapdragon Wear 2100 and that the new chip would be found in at least one premium smartwatch in time for the holiday 2018 season. It’s possible this is something other than the Pixel Watch, but considering the timing it’s looking pretty likely that it is.
While most of the fanfare and excitement seems to be surrounding the Pixel Watch, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are obviously also worthy of note. Google had a few missteps with the introduction of the Pixel 2, and it was forgivable given that it was only their sophomoric effort. With the Pixel 3, however, expectations are sky-high and Google will have to work to deliver a premium product with far fewer bugs than we saw previously.
Overall, it’s shaping up to be an incredibly exciting fall for fans of Google products, with the company finally truly establishing themselves as a major name in hardware in addition to the main name behind the Android operating system.
We will have to see if the Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds can compete with the far more established products from Apple, but if any company has a chance it’s either Google or Samsung.
