After years of speculation, we finally know what Google’s first in-house smartwatch will be called. Surprising absolutely no one, a new trademark filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals it is… Pixel Watch.
The filing (via 9to5 Google) is about as barebones as it gets. The description says the Pixel Watch name is “intended to cover the categories of smartwatches; cases adapted for holding smartwatches; wearable computers in the nature of smartwatches; smartwatch straps; smartwatch bands.” Further on in the filing, it’s noted that while the Pixel Watch name is not in current use, there is an intent to use it. Not to mention, Google recently changed its store to more prominently feature watches. Clearly, Google has smartwatches on the brain.
Granted, this name was wholly expected, even if it’s a tad anticlimactic. Tech media has been referring to the concept of a Made by Google smartwatch as the Pixel Watch for years. It also makes sense when you consider that Big Tech has used smartwatches to further their ecosystems. By naming it the Pixel Watch, Google signals its intent for the wearable to be a companion to its Pixel phones. And if that brings more people into Google’s web of gadgets and services… Well, that’s been the plan all along.
We already have a fairly good idea of what to expect. News that Google would finally make the Pixel watch real broke in December, and there have been several leaks of renders and watch faces. It’s also been long expected that Google will tease the Pixel Watch at Google I/O next month — which the timing of this trademark filing heavily supports. It’s also expected that the Pixel Watch will feature some kind of Fitbit integration with Wear OS 3. The smartwatch is also expected to cost more than a Fitbit and serve as a direct Apple Watch competitor.
There are plenty of reasons why 2022 is the year that the stars have finally aligned for the Pixel Watch. But despite false starts and rumors that never panned out, Google has been laying the groundwork for Android-first smartwatches for years. Not only was it first to the wearable game in 2014 with Android Wear, which has since been rebranded as Wear OS. In 2019, it was revealed that a Pixel watch nearly debuted years ago. The only reason it didn’t was those early attempts “didn’t look like what belonged in the Pixel family.” And to be fair, it was the right call, as the LG Watch Style and LG Watch Sport were godawful.
That does hint that this new watch is something that Google is proud to put its name on. We’ll have to see what happens at Google I/O, but it looks like the long wait is finally coming to an end.
