Three seems to be the magic number for Google. The company has claimed that the company's launch of Wear OS 3 has caused a 3x surge in the number of smartwatches on its platform.
At CES 2023 Google announced that “there are now over three times as many active Wear OS devices” since it launched its huge overhaul.
That’s since 2021, when the company unveiled its latest software version – an update most observers had been waiting for years to arrive.
The big boost in numbers is mainly down to Google woo-ing Samsung back to the platform.
After its launch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 was the only Wear OS device, followed by the Galaxy Watch 5 this year.
That slow start has started to pick up in the second half of 2022. The Pixel Watch, which launched in October, was a massive addition to the Wear OS stable.
But where do things go from here?
In terms of new devices, Fossil has started to release new smartwatches onto Wear OS 3, with Diesel Griffed and Gen 6 Wellness Edition shipping with the updated OS. All eyes are now on when the company launches its Gen 7 platform, which could utilize the new Qualcomm Snapdragon W5.
And we’ve seen the Montblanc Summit 3 and Citizen CZ Smart – although neither of these will be sold in big enough numbers to move the needle.
We’re yet to see Wear 3 smartwatches from Mobvoi, traditionally a major Google partner.
Google will be hoping that even more manufacturers jump on board with Wear OS. A 3x increase is good news, but it’s still way behind Apple in the numbers of smartwatches being snapped up.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.