The wearable market has been growing fast over the past decade, to the point where smartwatches and fitness trackers seem to be everywhere these days. Nearly every major and minor tech brand is offering a wearable accessory to pair with yourfavorite smartphone. The most ubiquitous, at least in the US, would be theApple Watch. But for Android users, there are good options from a number of manufacturers. Though all the smartwatches for fans of the green text bubble run Wear OS, charging methods are anything but consistent.
Though Apple Watch users enjoy the same wireless charger across the lineup, the rest of us don’t have the same luxury. Instead, we have to deal with a different charger for each brand, and sometimes, even for different models in a single OEM’s wearable lineup. The situation we’re in right now of proprietary chargers per smartwatch maker is not a good one at all. As the market expands, it is creating a bigger problem for users, and it’s time to standardize smartwatch charging for the people, the environment, and the market.
Frustration and waste
As the iPhone 15 finally adopts USB-C, the days of competing phone chargers seem to be behind us for now. While this will be annoying to some making the switch, in the big picture, this makes experiencing the mobile ecosystem as a whole more enjoyable as everyone will use the same cables and accessories.
The same needs to happen for smartwatches. It doesn’t matter which one of thetop Android smartwatchesyou use, none use the same charging cable as a competitor. Say you use aSamsung Galaxy Watch 6and want to give the newPixel Watch 2a try. The software experience will be pretty seamless: both watches will work with any Android smartphone. But you’ll have to buy new charging cables if you want spares, because the watches use different charging methods. Speaking of the Pixel Watch 2, if you had the first-gen model, youcan’t even use that charger with the new watch— Google switched it up from inductive charging to a pin-based system like Fitbits use.
Say you do find two smartwatches that use the same method, like wireless charging for theGalaxy Watch 6 Classicand the originalPixel Watch. While both charge completely wirelessly, each company has chosen to use a different underlying technology to achieve the power transfer. So, you can’t use one watch’s charge to power up the other. This issue creates multiple problems that won’t be fixed until we get a standard charging method across the platform.
One such problem is that if you want to easily charge your watch in more than one place, you are going to have to buy extra cables. Sure, we do that for our phones, but all modern smartphones use USB-C, andgood USB-C cablescan be found at all sorts of retailers. Smartwatch chargers are not that way.
Another problem created by not having standardized charging for smartwatches is the e-waste. Remember that smartwatch you bought, along with the extra charging cables? Well, let’s say you’re ready for a new one, either because you have different needs from your watch, a new model is available, or perhaps it just stopped working. Now, unless you stick with the same brand and the cables happen to work on the new models, you get to do the whole thing all over again by buying extra cables.
While you might be able to trade in your old smartwatch for a new one, they generally don’t ask for the cables back. Sure, you could send them in, but if you bought any third-party charging cables for your watch, those will end up in the trash. Hopefully, recycling, but doubtful. This means the lack of standardized charging for wearables is a big contributor to the e-waste problem. Remember how when companies, Apple first, began not including wall chargers in the boxes of new phones? That was because people already had some, and by not including the adapters, it would cut down on e-waste. Why not do that for wearable chargers by standardizing them?
Pick one and stick with it
After all of this talk, I’d like to say I have the perfect charging solution that all brands need to adopt. But I don’t. There are benefits to each method, I hope, or OEMs wouldn’t be so split. But when we boil it down, there are really only two choices — wireless or pin-based. While I do like some of the benefits of POGO pin charging like what the new Pixel Watch 2 uses, it can also be the most restrictive. This is because it would force each smartwatch maker to put the charging contacts in the same place on the bottom of each watch — which, in many cases, would require rearranging health sensors.
So, this leaves wireless charging to be the best option currently available. This also makes sense because with the newQi2 charging standard, the watches that include it should be pretty future-proof. Going with wireless charging removes issues of pins or contact points getting dirty and allows more design freedom for manufacturers. Regardless of the final charging method, the litany of cables and options will allow for greater freedom to change brands for users, more reliable third-party accessories, and reduce e-waste.
