Google’s Pixel smartwatch will not release this year, company confirms

Come October, Google is scheduled to debut the third generation of its Pixel smartphones. And along with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, the company was also speculated to launch its long-awaited Pixel Watch. However, clearing all the rumours, the company has now confirmed that the smartwatch will not be releasing this year.

According to a report by Tom’s Guide , at the IFA Berlin 2018 , a Google spokesperson confirmed that it won’t be releasing its own smartwatch this year. Instead, Google said that it is focusing on “improving the Wear OS and working with smartwatch makers, including Fossil, Casio and others showing off new Wear OS watches this week at IFA.”

“To think of a one-size-fits-all watch, I don’t think we’re there yet. Our focus is on our partners for now,” Miles Barr, Google’s director of engineering for Wear OS.

Contrary to rampant rumours about the smartwatch, Google says that it does not plan to work on its own watch as of now, and would only focus on improving the operating system for smartwatch that it provides.

Currently, Google works with companies who make Wear OS devices to approve designs and suggest new features. For instance, Google said, that it saw that a lot of smartwatch consumers now look for heart rate sensors on their device, and so it advised Wear OS device makers to add the features.

However, Google did hint on what we could expect from the new Watch OS update. Reportedly, Google Assistant will be the forefront of the Wear OS software update that will be rolling out to watches in the next month. The OS update will bring a proactive screen that displays the information you need for the upcoming day, week or even month, depending on how you use Google Assistant and what information Google learns from your usage of its other services.

Additionally, the Wear OS update will also solve some performance issues with a new feature called quick-glance screens.