What we should expect from Android and Wear OS smartwatches in 2025

Happy holidays and a happy new year to all Wear OS watch users! Last week, I looked back at Wear OS’s strongest year yet and promised I’d share my predictions for what might happen to Android smartwatches in 2025. Offer the gift of pessimistic coals.
I’m optimistic that 2025 will be a transformative year for Wear OS watches, building on the solid foundation of 2024 and the long-awaited returns driven by new Snapdragon hardware and Google Gemini.
That said, we can also see some warning signs of what’s coming in 2024, which could cause Android Watch owners some anxiety this year – depending on which brand you own. So good and bad, let’s break down what we can expect from Wear OS watches in 2025, both hardware and software!
New Snapdragon hardware (and replacement with RISC-V)
Google, Mobvoi, OnePlus, and Xiaomi have used the 2022 Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 SoC in almost all of their Wear OS watches over the past 2.5 years. Unlike the smartphone chips of the year, the watches don’t have apps that require too much space like games; these watches are fast enough with 2GB of RAM and older chips. However, it’s reasonable to expect an upgrade in 2025, as the latest Wear uses the Cortex-A53 core first released in 2012.
I interviewed Qualcomm VP Dino Bekis about Snapdragon Wear in October, and he all but promised that they would release Snapdragon Wear chips in 2025. And the “AI-driven” chip can “scale for years” because it will have enough computing power to be dedicated to whatever tools the OEM wants.
Assuming it follows Qualcomm’s naming convention, the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 could power most Wear OS watches by 2027. Open source, energy-saving platform.
Bekis said the two companies are still working on porting Wear OS software to RISC-V, a shift that could make Wear OS watches last longer, with the goal of “a week of battery life.” I doubt we’ll get there anytime soon, but it’s something to look forward to.
Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, called potential RISC-V switches “very interesting” and praised that they would have cheaper custom chips specifically for the application and would “open the door” to new tools. He warned me that he “thinks RISC-V will still take longer than expected,” but that “the rewards could be huge.” If the Pixel Watch 4 isn’t ready by the 2025 deadline, this could lead to Google looking for its replacement.
Google faces Snapdragon/Tensor crossroads
You can reasonably assume that the Pixel Watch 4 will use the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2, but a leak suggests that Google may err on the side of caution and develop a Tensor chip in-house that is essentially a lower-power version of the Exynos W1000 in the Galaxy Watch 7 , has one 2020 Cortex-A78 core and two Cortex-A55 cores.
Google’s current Tensor strategy Telephone is more focused on in-house development (in partnership with Samsung LSI) and strong AI performance, but at the expense of benchmarking capabilities. Google could take a similar approach to Watch, but decides not to need More space and a greater emphasis on powerful NPUs for Gemini tasks rather than paying a premium to Qualcomm to license its Snapdragon chips.
Google’s partnership with Samsung has underpinned the success of Wear OS, and staying on the same page will make joint software development easier. or It will go all-in on RISC-V in an attempt to differentiate its Pixel line from Samsung’s. I can only guess which path Google will take; I hope It chose the latter simply because it would make the 2025 Pixel Watch 4 more interesting, but also because it was worried that Google would take a safer route.
Health and fitness will remain a primary focus
It’s a pretty safe bet and I won’t spend too long thinking about it. Wear OS 6, however, will continue Google and Samsung’s quest to keep up with fitness rivals like Apple and Garmin.
Health updates for Wear OS 5 and One UI 6 Watch focus on health features (e.g., sleep apnea/energy score/cardio load) and exercise tools (e.g., AI coaching/running form analysis/pace or heart rate goals during exercise) ).
With Wear OS 6 watches, Google is expected to add dual-frequency GPS, just like Samsung, and focus on other sports like cycling and weightlifting to complement its newfound running focus. Samsung may follow Google and Apple’s lead and implement some form of training load feature that shows the short- and long-term effects of exercise.
We could also see new health tools, but until it comes, I’m still skeptical about non-invasive blood sugar, no matter how many times companies say it think Just do it. I wonder what non-gimmick data points these companies have left to add; maybe mental health will be the next focus for smart watches.
Gemini will shine in smart watches
Google will plug Gemini into every Google service and product that can support it in 2024, and promised at the end of the year that Gemini will become the benchmark for its new smart glasses operating system Android XR. Even though I don’t have any proof, I’m fairly confident that Google will make Gemini available with Wear OS 6 as the Pixel Watch 4’s killer app — probably a stripped-down version of Gemini Live.
Suppose Google could take the Gemini Nano—the “minimal” version of its artificial intelligence tools on a smartphone device—and port it to a smartwatch processor. This may depend on what capabilities the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 can offer, and may prevent current Android watches from using previous-generation hardware that wasn’t designed for the Gemini.
“On the Gemini side, I think Google still needs to find a way to make Gemini run smoothly on hardware with limited performance,” Sag told me. “That may come with RISC-V or some other more powerful platform.” But he agreed that “right now I don’t think the performance of Google Assistant is as good as it should be,” and said he could see artificial intelligence becoming “our The connection structure between all wearable devices”.
If I’m wrong about the Gemini shrinking into wearable form, I’m still hoping that Google adds more AI-driven tricks to Wear OS in some form. For example, it could add Fitbit Insight Explorer to the Pixel Watch 4 so you can ask for background information about your recent workouts — similar to Zepp Coach on Amazfit watches.
Samsung, which has been offering Bixby and Assistant, will also gain access to Gemini. It recently launched Bixby AI with LLM functionality, but it’s currently only available on Chinese phones; we don’t know if the Galaxy Watch 8 will support it. techniques on.
Samsung won’t go the squirrel route with Galaxy Watch 8
In March 2024, SamMobile reported internal sources that Samsung “wanted to return to the square design of its smartwatches” and received “enthusiastic” internal support for the plan. The Galaxy Watch 8 seems to be the most likely candidate.
Samsung hasn’t sold a Squirrel Watch since the Gear S launched in 2014. Although Galaxy Watch Ultra It seems The shape of the display is more square thanks to the titanium bezel, but the display is still round. At the time, some Galaxy Watch fans were unhappy with the idea of ditching the traditional watch look for a square-and-round design closely related to the Apple Watch.
I didn’t mind the idea at the time and thought the report was reasonable. But I recently remembered reports from August this year, in which Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong allegedly denounced the MX division for “design plagiarism” and believed that Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Buds Pro 3 were too similar in function and appearance to Apple Watch Ultra 2 and AirPods Pro .
Lee’s “angry” response makes me wonder if Samsung’s internal enthusiasm for squirrels will show up on the mainline Galaxy Watch. Even if Samsung designed a Squirrel Watch before Samsung did, most people would still think it copied Apple, and that seems to be a sore spot with its chairman.
So don’t be surprised if the Galaxy Watch 8 looks a lot like its predecessor Four Galaxy Watch: machine-cut, flat, bezel-less. As for the other models, we’re getting the twice-a-year Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and Samsung will likely continue selling the Ultra as-is for a year before launching the Ultra 2 (or ditching it like the Watch 5 Pro).
Wear OS will bring back Facer
This may just be wishful thinking, as Facer is one of my favorite Wear OS apps, and then Google made the XML Watch Face format the default in Wear OS 5 to extend battery life and make this already The decade-old app and its developers are in trouble. But I hope Facer comes back, I think it will happen in 2025.
Google isn’t going back on its restrictions and letting battery-hungry faces return to Wear OS; they make watches look aesthetically short-lived. But its current solution—scrolling through a long list of watch faces in the Play Store without any organization—is terrible. Facer says it’s “working with Google to resolve this issue” and offer alternatives, and I trust them.
My guess is that Google will once again allow third-party apps to share watch faces to Wear OS, as long as they are XML-encoded, which will put the Facer back on new Wear OS watches — even with most of its 500,000 watch faces None. At the very least, interesting XML watch faces will be easier to find on Facer, which in turn will incentivize developers to start make XML gives us a creative face.
My not-so-reliable predictions for Wear OS in 2025
None of the above is certain, but I at least have evidence or solid reasons to speculate. Now I’m going to abandon my predictions for Wear OS in 2025, which are based on nothing but vibration:
I wouldn’t be surprised if Another Android OEM Make a Wear OS watch. Motorola, which once sold the Android Wear-based Moto 360 but is now focusing on cheap Moto OS trackers, seems to be a possible candidate.
I’m worried too Wear OS updates are slow 2025. With Wear OS 6, the gap between the new watch and the previous generation may be even wider.
We’ll Likely See the First Wear OS Watch Masimo health sensorbut the hardware may not be integrated into the watch until after 2025.
Finally, I would hazard a guess that Google will Fitbit will be available on all Wear OS watches by 2025. Even if it means losing the exclusivity of the Pixel Watch, the data payoff is worth it for them.