Apple Watch dominance threatened by new OnePlus Watch coming soon

OnePlus Watch will launch with OnePlus Series 9 in its first foray into smartwatches

OnePlus Wearable
(Image credit: LetsGoDigital)

OnePlus fans can breathe a sigh of relief with news that the company’s first smartwatch will launch in March.

It comes from the trusted tipster, Max Jambor, who is usually well-versed in OnePlus’ pre-release speculation. Only time will tell if Jambor’s mysterious tweet holds to be true, but it seems to allude to the OnePlus Watch and the OnePlus 9 series.

Things move rapidly in the tech world, and it looks as though the OnePlus Watch will launch alongside the OnePlus 9 series. The OnePlus 9 series is set to launch in March, ergo we can probably expect the watch in March, as well. OnePlus is fighting for pole position in a busy market with the Samsung Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch Series 6 receiving critical acclaim. 

Jambor’s tweet hints that the camera on the OnePlus Series 9 will be punchy; undoubtedly, it needs to build on the strong heritage forged by the OnePlus 8 Pro, which delivered breath-taking speed and an astonishing screen when reviewed by T3.

There isn’t any solid pricing information on the OnePlus Watch, as yet; however, OnePlus’ parent company, Oppo, launched the Oppo Watch at around $300 / £229 / AU$420 for the 41mm variant. OnePlus’ first foray into the smartwatch arena may drop at around this price and is reportedly dropping in two versions. Mukul Sharma aka, stufflistings, tweeted that two variants have been spotted on the Indian regulator BIS. Although this only applies to India, the watch is expected to launch worldwide, pending other regulatory decisions in the likes of the UK and US.

Of course, the tech community has known for a while that OnePlus is launching a smartwatch; T3 covered a tweet from OnePlus’ CEO, Pete Lau, back in December that confirmed a watch was in development. One of the main signals coming from the brand has been the need for total cohesion between products: tackling this through wider integration with its ecosystem and letting different product types interact with each other. Apple has sought to do this through its Apple smartwatches: abound with lots of choices, you can use T3's best Apple Watch guide to find the perfect wristwatch companion. 

Speculation has been slowly bubbling around the innards of the OnePlus Watch. The utilization of Wear OS – be it specifically customized for OnePlus’s smartwatch or a generic integration – and the likely addition of a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, or even blood glucose measurement. 

Apple is said to be looking to include this blood sugar monitoring in its new Apple Watch Series 7 through the use of a non-invasive optical sensor, as T3 reported recently. There’s little doubt that this would bring enormous benefits to people with long-term health conditions. If you can't wait for Oppo's take on the smartwatch, T3's best smartwatch guide will cut through the noise to help you pick the best watch for your money. 

The dizzying array of smartwatches is a reminder of how adopted wearable technology now is in society; however, it's always to good to hear of news around T3's favorite brands, like OnePlus, who tend to deliver brilliant products based on a legacy of solid hardware releases. 

Source: Android Headlines

Luke Wilson

Luke is a former news writer at T3 who covered all things tech at T3. Disc golf enthusiast, keen jogger, and fond of all things outdoors (when not indoors messing around with gadgets), Luke wrote about a wide-array of subjects for T3.com, including Android Auto, WhatsApp, Sky, Virgin Media, Amazon Kindle, Windows 11, Chromebooks, iPhones and much more, too.