Google Pixel Watch release date finally set for 2022, new report claims

The oft-rumoured Pixel Watch could finally have a release date, with a new report tipping Google to launch its first in-house Wear OS smartwatch some time in 2022.

That’s according to Insider (via The Verge), who cites a person familiar with the matter as revealing that such a device will launch next year and is being developed under the codename ‘Rohan’.

The report doesn’t shed much more light on the Pixel Watch beyond its claim to confirm its existence, though additional sources speaking to The Verge said that the wearable would be positioned as an Apple Watch rival.

It’s apparently being developed by Google’s Pixel hardware division, separate from the company’s new Fitbit arm – Google having bought Fitbit for $2.1bn earlier this year.

As such, we can only speculate on a more exact Pixel Watch release date, with the annual Google I/O developer conference scheduled for May 2022 being the first potential stage for an official product reveal.

Watch this space?

Further details of the Pixel Watch being mooted are that it will feature a heart rate monitor and basic step tracking, but that’s fairly basic stuff and no less than would be expected.

Realistically, we can expect to see a whole lot more than that, especially on the software side. The purpose of a Pixel Watch would essentially be to showcase the full potential of Google’s Wear OS platform, much the same as devices like the Pixel 6 Pro smartphone are the benchmark for Android devices.

In many ways, it’s a surprise a Pixel smartwatch doesn’t already exist, given that Wear OS was launched all the way back in 2014. It’s thought that Google may have worked on such a product in the past but shelved it at the last minute, with the company currently seeking to refine the idea of Wear OS with its partners.

Wear OS 3, for instance, currently only features on the latest Samsung Galaxy Watch devices – but to good effect, as our Galaxy Watch 4 Classic review highlights.

• Related: the best smartwatches right now

James Laird Contributing Editor

About

James has been covering gadgets and other cool tech stuff for more than 10 years, most recently as the Sports and TV Streaming Editor at TechRadar. Before that, he was News and Features Editor at Trusted Reviews, where he developed a love of big phones and even bigger headlines. In his spare time, he can usually be found behaving badly on a golf course or watching the New England Patriots.