Rounding out the remainder of the enhancements are assist for the Bluetooth 5 normal and an upgraded 4G LTE modem for sooner mobile knowledge connectivity. Qualcomm says the sooner LTE modem ought to enhance providers like maps, music streaming, and voice assistants.
Does It Matter?
However each Qualcomm and Google’s Wear OS platform play a small position within the broader smartwatch ecosystem.
Within the first quarter of 2020, simply 4.2 p.c of all smartwatches bought have been working Google’s Wear OS platform, in keeping with Vincent Thielke, an analyst at Canalys. Evaluating that to Apple’s 36.three p.c market share in the identical interval, it is simple to see simply how far again Google’s working system sits. And of the 66 million smartwatches bought in 2019, Thielke estimates solely 5.6 million used Qualcomm chips, with Wear OS making up the majority at 56 p.c. (The remainder are largely smartwatches from Chinese language producers that use totally different processors.)
“Wear OS has not been rising yr over yr,” Thielke says. “It did not develop in Q1 2019, it additionally did not develop in Q1 2020. I believe one of many causes for that’s that it is form of simply fallen behind different smartwatch platforms. Different platforms have actually been prioritizing well being options—particularly relating to coronary heart fee—and from what we have seen with the Wear OS platform, we simply have not seen as robust of a push. There are restricted well being options.”
Apple launched an electrocardiogram in its Collection Four Apple Watch in 2018, which was cleared by the US Meals and Drug Administration and different governments all over the world. Samsung extra not too long ago noticed the South Korean authorities approve related performance in its watches, which run the corporate’s personal Tizen working system.
Samsung, at the moment third within the smartwatch market as of the primary quarter, gives sleep monitoring in its watches. Apple can also be set to introduce the identical function later this yr in its subsequent model of WatchOS. Google has no native sleep-tracking performance in Wear OS but, although you should utilize a third-party app. Additionally, Wear OS does not embrace assist for electrocardiograms. The general well being and health choices in Wear OS are additionally extra restricted than what yow will discover in smartwatches and health trackers from the likes of Fitbit and Garmin.
One thing else holding Wear OS again, in keeping with Thielke, is the dearth of apps on the platform. Big platforms like Apple’s WatchOS and Samsung’s Tizen, with their giant and lively consumer bases, are extra enticing than Wear OS as targets for app builders, Thielke says.
That is the place Google’s Fitbit acquisition is available in. The deal continues to be pending regulatory approval, but when it succeeds, it can ship a a lot bigger consumer base for Google to be taught from. It should additionally give the corporate entry to Fitbit’s fitness-tracking prowess, which incorporates superior heart- and sleep-tracking options. None of this may occur anytime quickly although, as integrating Fitbit and Wear OS will take a whole lot of developmental time.
Thielke additionally thinks that Google marrying Wear OS with Fitbit would possibly detract from the Fitbit model, because of Google’s poor observe document with its personal wearable platform, to not point out the general public’s broader issues about Google’s data-collection practices. He believes the very best transfer is for Google to maintain the 2 manufacturers separate as it really works on a next-generation model of Wear OS that can pull within the strengths of each.
However even when these adjustments come to fruition, it is unlikely Google will make a lot headway available in the market. Canalys’ knowledge from the primary quarter of 2020, Thielke says Wear OS and Fitbit mixed solely amounted to 1.5 million smartwatches bought. That is nonetheless far behind Apple, Huawei, and Samsung.