Google Wear OS is soon getting a huge hardware boost from the company that broke the Apple Watch
Google has announced a brand new smartwatch partnership that could bring an influx of new Wear OS hardware to market and further diversify the lineup of best Wear OS watches.
The company has reached an agreement with Masimo, the health and consumer electronics company that recently rose to prominence after criticizing Apple for its pulse oximetry technology in its top-of-the-line Apple Watch models.
Masimo has successfully filed a lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking a temporary ban on Apple selling its Apple Watch devices with the blood oxygen feature, which were introduced in 2020. Now Masimo has announced a major collaboration with Google “to develop a new reference platform for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) building Wear OS by Google smartwatches.”
Masimo says the reference platform will allow “OEMs to more efficiently bring high-performance Wear OS smartwatches to market.” The new platform will support Wear OS, including all the health and wellness features you’ve come to expect from the ecosystem. Masimo says the new platform should be compatible with existing Google apps and Wear OS services.
Manufacturers that take Masimo’s offer can design their own smartwatch exteriors and user interfaces wrapped around Wear OS. Masimo provides the hardware underneath, a combination of hardware and software components, biosensors and a companion Android smartphone app.
Masimo says its platform will feature the same innovations as its W1 wearable and upcoming Freedom smartwatch. That could include fall detection, step counting, heart rate and pulse monitoring, oxygen saturation and even hydration index tracking.
Wear OS upgrade with Masimo support
It’s impossible to say when Masimo’s new partnership with Google and Wear OS will bear fruit in hardware terms, but what we do know is that Masimo is working with processor giant Qualcomm to help build the next-generation platform. In a separate announcement, Masimo said The combination of Qualcomm’s medical expertise and Snapdragon ecosystem “will help scale the wearable ecosystem.”
The move will undoubtedly make it easier for manufacturers to develop their own Wear OS hardware, as many of the core internals and Android compatibility are taken care of. It seems unlikely that larger manufacturers like Samsung will deviate from their own hardware, but companies that haven’t yet entered the smartwatch market could be tempted by the move, including some classic watch makers getting into the game (or getting back into the game, as many of them tried in the early days).
Qualcomm, Masimo and Google all agree that the partnership will increase innovation, variety and choice in the Wear OS market. We’re inclined to believe them: it could bring some much-needed design variety to the best smartwatches.