Google says Wear OS 4 for original Pixel Watch is coming this year

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Google just held the 2023 Made by Google event, where the Mountain View company announced the new Pixel 8 series smartphones and the Pixel Watch 2.

According to the keynote, the new Watch 2 will support Wear OS 4 when the smartwatch launches. But that also begs the question — what about the original Pixel Watch? 

In a recently released statement, Google stated that the company’s first smartwatch will definitely get the Wear OS upgrade, but not soon.

Google Pixel Watch 2 will be the first to get all of Wear OS 4’s capabilities

Google’s announcement comes via the Android Developers Blog, where the company confirmed the latest version of the Wear OS will arrive on the Pixel Watch. 

Unfortunately, it will be later rather than sooner, while the Pixel Watch 2 will receive the latest version of the Wear OS immediately. The company said that the original Pixel Watch will get it “Later this year.”

While the fourth iteration of the Wear OS will be on the Pixel Watch 2, it won’t be the first wearable with the OS. That title goes to Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6. 

Also, the older Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 4 series have received the same Wear OS upgrade already. Google even stated developers can continue to use Samsung Galaxy Watches to test their apps on Wear OS 4.

Google’s latest Wear OS 4 is based on Android 13, which brings several new capabilities to the plate, like enhanced tile animations, more seamless data transfers, and optimizations for performance.

The company even pointed out the Android 13-based version is several generations ahead of the current version of the Wear OS current available on the Pixel Watches. 

While Google is making the Wear OS 4 available to the Pixel Watch 2 as soon as it launches, the Mountain View company is still late to the game.

However, Google made a surprising revelation that the Pixel Watch 2 is the only smartwatch that gets all of Wear OS 4’s capabilities.

Pre-orders for the Google Pixel Watch 2 have already begun, with Google Store availability starting on October 12. You can even get it free with a Pixel 8 Pro right now.

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