Motorola won't announce a new Moto 360 smartwatch until at least the spring, TechRadar has learned.
After it became known last week Moto would skip out on launching a new smartwatch synced with the release of Android Wear 2.0 early next year, we asked the firm to elaborate on its smartwatch road map and whether it will continue to invest in the product category.
We received the following company statement on Monday, which highlights Motorola's smartwatch strategy and indicates we have at least a several months' long wait before the next Moto 360 arrives:
"Moto has always been a leader in wearables and is extremely proud of Moto 360 - which is among the best offerings in the market today. As we look forward, we are taking a longer-term approach to evaluate within the category, which is why we aren’t announcing a new generation of Moto 360 this year. We remain excited about the future and look forward to bringing meaningful experiences to consumers around the world."
On follow-up, a Motorola spokesperson informed us "this year" refers to Motorola's fiscal year, which extends into spring (April) 2017.
Lenovo, Motorola's parent company, ends its fiscal year on March 31, so a new Moto 360 very likely wouldn't be announced until April at the earliest.
Information as to when Motorola will announce its next-gen wearable has come in piecemeal, first with the company (among others) deciding against a holiday 2016 release and then revealing it would pass on pairing a smartwatch with Android Wear 2.0's early 2017 launch.
Now, we know the company will wait until at least the spring before it announces its next smartwatch.
Taking its time
Motorola has been on the forefront of the smartwatch movement, but has recently slowed down - and now, paused - its release of wrist-adorning wearables.
Its next device is widely expected to be the Moto 360 3rd gen, one that ideally builds off the successes of the Moto 360 (2015) and Moto 360 Sport while hopefully avoiding their failings, such as lackluster battery life.
We'd venture to guess Motorola wants to see what Android Wear 2.0 brings to the table before creating a smartwatch around the updated operating system instead of updating the line simply because the time has come to do so.
To that end, it’s adopting a “longer-term approach”, one that also lets it see what features customers are gravitating towards and build a product that meets those needs.
Though we have a few months to go before Motorola announces its next Moto 360 - if it doesn’t push that date out even further - we could be in for the smartest wearable to hit the market yet.
