Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series is regarded as one of the best smartwatch lineups for Android users. With the Galaxy Watch 4, Samsung ditched Tizen OS and moved to Wear OS 3, which it developed in partnership with Google. Since then, the company has managed to tap into the success of bringing the much-improved Wear OS 3 to its latest premium smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 5.
Chinese OEM Xiaomi might be planning to go the Samsung route as well. According to 9To5Google, Xiaomi is working on a Wear OS 3 smartwatch. Till now, Xiaomi’s smartwatches, such as the Watch S1 and S1 Pro, run on Xiaomi’s proprietary MIUI Watch OS.
Smartwatches from the Chinese giant come with all the bells and whistles, including a premium design, an unknown 12nm chip, an array of health sensors,and good battery life. However, Xiaomi failed to replicate the traction of its cheaper smart bands with its smartwatches. And the main reason could be its availability as well as the OS it runs.
Xiaomi could plan to launch its Wear OS 3 smartwatch in 2023
Apparently, the MIUI Watch OS is still based on Android. But since it isn’t Wear OS, it loses a bunch of exclusive features normally made for Wear OS devices. Xiaomi might soon rectify the mistake and could join the Wear OS 3 bandwagon. As per the inside source, Xiaomi could embrace the Google Play Services and adopt the full Wear OS branding to appeal to a bigger audience.
While there isn’t much detail, if Xiaomi releases its smartwatch, it will be powered by Wear OS 3 and Mi Fitness (Xiaomi Wear) app. Additionally, it will come under the same ‘Xiaomi Watch’ branding as the existing non-Wear OS lineup of watches from Xiaomi.
There is some contradiction here, as the Xiaomi Watch lineup is known for good battery life, which isn’t a word that goes well with Wear OS watches (something long-time Samsung fans often complain about as far as its Wear OS smartwatches are concerned). If everything goes well, Xiaomi could launch this Wear OS 3-powered smartwatch to go up against the behemoth Samsung Galaxy Watch series sometime in 2023.