Google is sharing its wearable manufacturer with the competition
We’re all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Pixel Watch, Google’s first step into wearable hardware and the promised savior of Wear OS. Unfortunately, we’ll be waiting a while — with a promised “late fall” launch, we still have months of rumors and endless speculation to go. While everyone was watching the I/O keynote a couple of weeks ago, Google quietly timed an FCC appearance for its upcoming watch, revealing it has more in common with the Apple Watch than just a similar-looking crown.
As spotted by 9to5Google, the company filed documents with the FCC as it was on stage revealing the Pixel Watch, timed perfectly to avoid suspicion. It reveals Google has picked Compal to manufacture its first wearable, one of the two companies Apple relies on to build its own smartwatch. Considering the high praise Apple has had heaped on it over the years for offering a high-quality wearable, it’s a good sign for the Pixel Watch. Compal isn’t new to making smartwatches, which should help bypass some of those concerns surrounding first-gen Pixel products.
Google filed four FCC listings on May 11th, with three covering the watch itself. One model is the Bluetooth-only offering — what most consumers will likely spring for this fall — while the other two support LTE. One of them matches up with cellular bands in the US, while the other seems destined for regions like Japan and Australia. We’re still waiting for an official list of supported regions, though.
Finally, the fourth filing reveals Compal is also manufacturing the Pixel Watch’s charger. It’s a classic wireless puck, but unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Watch4, Google is using USB-C for its connector. It’ll make it even easier to ditch all of those USB-A bricks taking up space around your house.
As we learned last week, Google is reportedly pairing an aging Exynos 9110 chip with a co-processor to power the Pixel Watch. With any luck, it’ll be enough to provide a flagship experience — especially when combined with more RAM and storage than most Android-compatible wearables.
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