The main gripe about the first and second-gen Pixel Watches has been their size, or rather, their lack of it. But guess what? Word on the street is that Google is on it. They’re cooking up two sizes for the Pixel Watch 3, set to drop this year.
Even though the Pixel Watch 2 brought some important spec upgrades from the first one, Google didn’t shake things up much in the design department. The 41mm diameter and 12.3mm thickness stayed put. If you’re playing spot-the-difference, the crown is the main giveaway, unless you flip it over and check out the sensor stack on the bottom.
Wristwear size matters to folks. Some are cool with the Pixel Watch, but for others, it’s just too tiny. Bigger watch cases in wearables often mean better specs – room for a larger battery and more sensors. Plus, on smartwatches, a bigger display can level up what you see, do, and interact with.
Right now, we don’t have the lowdown on Google planning to make the two Pixel Watch 3 sizes do different tricks, apart from maybe a larger screen and a tad more battery space. The recent shake-up with Fitbit and Google hardware teams shouldn’t throw a wrench into product development in the near future, but of course, plans can always shuffle before the big launch.
Checking out the rivals, Samsung’s got the Galaxy Watch 6 in both 40 mm and 44 mm. They’ve also got the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic in 43 mm and 47 mm, sporting the same screen sizes (1.31″ and 1.47″), but with a slick rotating bezel and stainless steel instead of aluminum. On the Apple side, the Apple Watch Series 9 comes in either 41 mm or 45 mm sizes.
Fingers crossed that Google steps up and trims down the bezel while giving the smaller model a roomier screen. The big mystery is whether our current bands will play nice with the new larger size, considering the shape might change.
Bringing in a bigger version is Google’s way of tackling the major gripe. Some folks have straight-up ditched the Pixel Watch for Samsung because, let’s face it, the Pixel was just too small for them.