Google Announces Wear OS Overhaul as Apple Watch Keeps Dominating the Industry

Google has recently announced a major Wear OS update in the fall, with the focus this time to be on performance improvements and the overall user experience.

Apple Watch has become the dominant option in the wearable market, with sales of the device growing every single quarter, and many believe that partially responsible is the lack of competition in this side of the industry.

Google’s Wear OS, for example, is yet to get the traction that the search giant expected in the first place, but it’s also because of various drawbacks that both users and OEMs have complained above. And now the Mountain View-based search giant wants to deal with all of these, with a fall software update to resolve major performance and usability issues.

First and foremost, everything will be faster on the new Wear OS update because Google will add support for new-generation processors, like the Qualcomm Wear 4100 and 4100+ chips. At the same time, the existing chips will get additional optimizations, and Google says that thanks to the CPU core improvements we should see apps launching faster by as much as 20 percent.

Handwashing timer

Then, the Wear OS update should bring a massive battery life improvement, which is something truly important for the future of the update. Many users have complained that the average Wear OS device doesn’t run for more than one day per charge, and the fall update could change this.

Additionally, Google is also introducing a series of other features, such as a handwashing timer, something that’s coming to the Apple Watch with the watchOS 7 update later this fall. A new weather experience is also coming to users in Wear OS.

“Later this year, you’ll see a beautiful new weather experience for Wear OS by Google. It aims to be easier to read while on the go, with an hourly breakdown of today’s weather to help you plan ahead and provide information about important weather alerts in your area,” Google says.

The company promises more improvements coming in 2021, so further updates are likely to be announced rather sooner than later.