Just last week, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau revealed in an interview that the company is working on a smartwatch. The revelation was the first solid piece of information regarding OnePlus’ smartwatch ambitions, but so far, details about its arrival have been under the wraps. Now, the OnePlus chief has confirmed that the company’s first smartwatch arrives early next year. A concrete date has not been revealed, but it appears that the OnePlus smartwatch might arrive alongside the OnePlus 9 family if the company’s smartphone release cycle is anything to go by.

The name is Watch... OnePlus Watch!

“Many of you said you wanted a watch, and as you might have heard over the weekend—we’re making one, to be released early next year. Wishes do come true,” Lau tweeted. Back in September, it was reported that the OnePlus Watch will feature circular dial, something that falls in line with a design schematic shared by OnePlus that was sketched back when the company first started working on its smartwatch project in 2015. It is worth noting here that a majority of Wear OS-based smartwatches out there rock a circular dial design with a key exception being the Oppo Watch.

https://twitter.com/PeteLau/status/1341392977973960707?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Now, OnePlus originally pulled the plugs on its smartwatch project because the company thought Wear OS was not mature enough to offer a user experience that was up to OnePlus’ standards. “Wear OS definitely has room to improve. What we’re trying to do is work with Google to try to improve the connectivity between the Wear OS ecosystem, Android TV, and Android smartphones to create this ability for better device interoperability across the ecosystems,” Lau was quoted as saying by InputMag.

Circular dial and Wear OS

Over a month ago, a ‘wearable watch’ by OnePlus was certified by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). It now remains to be seen what direction OnePlus takes regarding its approach to smartwatch software – will it run Wear OS in its stock avatar, and if it will be skinned and offer the same level of deep customization as the Android-based Oxygen OS skin.