On balance, theGoogle Pixel Watchis agreat Wear OS device, but it’s not entirely practical. The watch looks great and performs well, but battery life is a major miss, with the Pixel Watch struggling to make it a full day away from a charger. According to areport from 9to5Google, though, that could be changing in the next model, thanks to a new chipset from Qualcomm.
The original Pixel Watch uses a years-old Samsung chipset paired with an Arm co-processor. The setup makes for surprisingly robust and fluid performance, but it doesn’t do the wearable any favors when it comes to battery life. Google’s official estimate is that the Pixel Watch can make it 24 hours on a charge with the always-on display turned off, and more demanding use will run it down even faster.
According to 9to5’s unnamed sources, thePixel Watch 2is set to launch with one of Qualcomm’s recent W5 wearable chipsets. The W5+ Gen 1 powers the newTicWatch Pro 5, which offers outstanding battery life that can stretch three to four days on a charge. Mobvoi uses other tricks to extend battery life further, including a unique display setup the Pixel Watch certainly won’t adopt. Still, if a future Pixel Watch can make it even two full days on a charge, that’ll be an enormous upgrade to usability.
9to5 also notes that the Pixel Watch 2 should have “similar health sensors to the Fitbit Sense 2.” It’s not clear what exactly that means, but the next Pixel Watch could feature an electrodermal activity sensor like the one the Sense 2 uses to approximate user stress levels. The Sense 2 also has a dedicated skin temperature sensor, another component the existing Pixel Watch lacks.
The first-generation Pixel Watch was revealed at the 2022 Made by Google event alongside the Pixel 7 series. Considering the timing of this report, it’s possible Google is preparing the Pixel Watch 2 to be revealed at a similar event this fall alongside thePixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
