The upcoming OnePlus Watch is only a few weeks away, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. Today it took a big step forward by getting certified for launch in India.
After expanding to many new categories in 2020, the Chinese giant is now looking to expand its wearables portfolio. That started with the launch of the OnePlus Band in India earlier this year, and the OnePlus Watch will take that forward. The smartwatch is confirmed to launch in “early 2021”, but specifics are still scarce.
Yes! The OnePlus Watch is indeed coming very soon to India. Have spotted the 2 variants (W501GB,W301GB) on the Indian BIS certification website.Feel free to retweet.#OnePlus #OnePlusWatch pic.twitter.com/I0tQBmGBdOJanuary 21, 2021
As spotted by Mukul Sharma, OnePlus has registered two smartwatches with the Bureau of Indian Standards, which is a certification all products have to go through before launching. What’s interesting is that this is the first time we’re hearing of a second watch, and the model numbers suggest that they will be pretty different from each other.
The company did mention that it is working closely with Google to “try to improve the connectivity between the Wear OS ecosystem, Android TV, and Android smartphones to create this ability for better device interoperability across the ecosystems”, confirming that at least one of the watches will run on Wear OS.
Without any official information or leaks, we expect the second OnePlus Watch to run on a simplified proprietary platform, akin to the new crop of affordable smartwatches that have become very popular recently. With this approach, OnePlus will be able to address the proper smartwatch segment, which hasn’t seen many great options recently, as well as the growing budget wearable space.
The OnePlus Watch is expected to be unveiled in early March alongside the OnePlus 9 trio and the OnePlus Nord refresh. Though, not all products will be available in all markets at launch, as it will have to take local competition and price sensitivity into consideration. In markets like India, it will face strong competition from the likes of Xiaomi, Realme and Amazfit in the wearable segment.
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