Google has announced a brand new smartwatch partnership that could deliver an influx of new Wear OS hardware to the market, and bring even more variety to the lineup of best Wear OS Watches.
The company has signed a deal with Masimo, the health and consumer electronics company most recently famed for taking Apple to task over the pulse oximetry technology found in the best Apple Watch models.
Masimo successfully sought a ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission that blocked Apple for a time from selling its Apple Watch devices with the blood oxygen feature, which was introduced in 2020. Now, Masimo has announced a major partnership with Google "to develop a new reference platform for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) building Wear OS by Google smartwatches."
Masimo says that thanks to its reference platform, "OEMs will be able to more efficiently build and bring high-performing Wear OS smartwatches to market." The new platform will support Wear OS, including all the health and wellness features you'd expect from the ecosystem. Masimo says that the new platform should be compatible with existing Google apps and Wear OS services.
Manufacturers who take Masimo up on its offer will be able to design their own smartwatch exteriors, and the user interface wrapped around Wear OS. Masimo will provide the hardware underneath, a combination of hardware and software components, biosensors, and a companion Android smartphone app.
Masimo says that its platform will feature the same innovations as its W1 wearable and the upcoming Freedom smartwatch. That could include fall detection, step counting, pulse and heart rate monitoring, oxygen saturation, and even hydration index measurement.
Wear OS' Masimo-powered upgrade
It's impossible to say when Masimo's new partnership with Google and Wear OS will bear hardware fruit, but what we do know is that Masimo is partnering with processor giant Qualcomm to help build the next-generation platform. In a separate announcement, Masimo says the combination of its medical prowess and Qualcomm's Snapdragon ecosystem "will help scale the wearable ecosystem."
The move will undoubtedly make it easier for manufacturers to come up with their own Wear OS hardware, since many of the key internals and Android compatibility will be taken care of. It seems unlikely that larger manufacturers such as Samsung would deviate from their own hardware, but companies yet to enter the smartwatch space could be tempted by the move, including some classic watch manufacturers getting into the game (or back into the game, since many of them tried in the early days).
Qualcomm, Masimo, and Google are unanimous in stating the partnership will increase innovation, variety, and choice in the Wear OS market, and we're inclined to believe them – it could bring some much needed design variation among the best smartwatches.
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