Medical professionals concerned about discrepancies in Apple Watch heartbeat readings aren’t out of the woods (or more accurately, the emergency room). Just take a look at the wrists of people you meet in the parks to see its popularity. Meanwhile, rival brands are preparing their fightback, which is kicking off right now.
The Californian computer chip giant Qualcomm has just presented a brand new processor architecture designed expressly for connected watches. Compact and powerful, this range is made up of two chips called W5 and W5 Plus. It promises to solve the main problem encountered by anyone who buys such an accessory: its autonomy.
Qualcomm promises more than a day of use without recharging for the watches that will be powered by its new chips. This should be done despite a gain in speed of information processing, which should facilitate the display of animated dials on watches, and the use of numerous physical activity monitoring functions.
Another thing promised by the American equipment manufacturer: watches with a more compact case. While the trend is towards bigger and bigger watches, rare are the wearers who like to have a 46 or 48 mm wide dial on the wrist. Qualcomm therefore promises that its partners – think of the manufacturer Fossil, well known to fashion lovers – will be able to offer watches to a more diversified audience.
The great seduction begins at Huawei
Better targeting the market is also the bet made by the Chinese company Huawei with its most recent offer, the GT3 Pro. As we observed earlier this spring, the brand of consumer computer products does not plan to disappear from the Canadian portrait despite the expulsion of the country’s 5G networks from the Chinese group’s telecommunications equipment division.
The GT3 Pro is without doubt the prettiest watch ever produced by Huawei. In particular, it is offered in two versions, including a white and gold model with a ceramic strap that is aimed at a mainly female audience, who is looking for a more urban style first and connected watch characteristics second.
It’s safe to say that the GT3 Pro is exactly what Qualcomm is trying to replicate with its future processors: its exclusive dials come alive throughout the day. Its GPS tracks outdoor activities very closely. It can, under certain conditions, contain music that is listened to in wireless headphones paired by a Bluetooth connection.
Those who find connected watches a little too bulky for physical activity are also in the crosshairs of Huawei, which offers a version for runners of its watch called GT Runner. This one is slimmed down and offers more information in its exercise tracking modes.
As a bonus, Huawei has come up with a way to stretch the battery life of its watches over several days without degrading their functions. Whether you pair the device with an Apple iPhone or an Android phone, you typically get a week of battery life per charge. That’s more than the majority of smartwatches. It’s also a lot more than the autonomy you get when you wind the mechanism of a more traditional watch…
Waiting for the Pixel Watch
Huawei’s GT3 Pro has the advantage of being released a few months before another highly anticipated watch: Google’s Pixel Watch. In addition to the Apple Watch, which accounts for nearly 40% of all connected watches in circulation, it is Samsung, with its Galaxy Watch 4, which comes second with around 10% of the market.
The Galaxy Watch 4 is powered by a system called Wear OS, precisely designed by Google, but a little neglected in recent years. The Pixel Watch promises to reinvigorate that platform by borrowing the same strategy as Pixel phones.
Google has just released the Pixel 6a, a mid-range smartphone with a moderately powerful processor, a display that has slightly fewer pixels (no pun intended) than its rivals, and a less sophisticated camera. But it doesn’t sacrifice the experience of handling a Google-branded phone; in particular, it is devoid of all those superfluous applications pre-installed by other Android phone manufacturers.
The Pixel Watch, basically, should follow this formula: Google services will be featured on a device that will not have the latest mechanics and which, if we believe the first sketches, will bet on the same design philosophy as the Pixel phones, that is, a sober look (not to say a bit dreary). Google indicated a few months ago that its watch would still offer the possibility of connecting directly to cellular networks, which gives it some usefulness in terms of communications and music streaming.
That said, it will be a big task for Google and others if they hope to unseat the Apple Watch. According to rumors, it will be offered in three versions this fall, including a Pro version and a sportier version that will target more specific customers.
Obviously, this frenzy towards connected watches can be explained simply: the market for smart phones is saturated. A good portion of consumers already have wireless headphones. We must therefore try to seduce them with other gadgets. It took a few years for the watches to catch on, but there, obviously, the industry hopes to convince an even wider audience of their usefulness this summer.
Don’t be surprised if your next phone comes with a bonus watch…