Google has officially confirmed the existence of the Pixel Watch 2, teasing the smartwatch in a video and image on its website

The watch looks very similar in design to the original Pixel Watch, and we don’t know for sure about any new features.

Here’s everything we know so far about the Google Pixel Watch 2. 

When will the Google Pixel Watch 2 be released?

We will see the Pixel Watch 2 announced at the Made By Google event Google has announced for 4 October.

The new Watch has already been unveiled alongside the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, which that event will also detail.

Google posted a teaser video of the products it will announce on 4 October, with text confirmed the Watch 2 will go up for pre-order on the day.

How much will the Google Pixel Watch 2 cost?

There are no confirmed price details from Google at this point in time. With the original Pixel Watch only being released in October 2022, we don’t think there will be too much change from the price of that smartwatch:

Google Pixel Watch (Wi-Fi/Bluetooth) – $349/£339/€379 

Google Pixel Watch (LTE) – $399/£379/€429

What new features will we see in the Google Pixel Watch 2?

As well as the image at the top of this article, Google posted an image of the Pixel Watch 2 on its store:

Besides that we don’t know the official specs of the Google Pixel Watch 2 yet, so we’re still relying on the rumours that have surfaced so far to give us a clue on what we might see when the new model arrives. 

In classic Google fashion, the company had already very likely leaked the Pixel Watch 2 itself. The company accidentally published the below image on its own website of a man using a Pixel 8 Pro. But it could also be the new Watch on his wrist, as it looks slimmer than the original version with a less rounded glass display:

There hasn’t been much else leaked so far though, and matters are complicated by the fact that Jon Prosser has reported Google is in fact working on two models: a standard Pixel Watch 2 and a separate version for kids, though he admits that this latter might end up being released under the Fitbit brand, perhaps as a follow-up to 2021’s Fitbit Ace 3.

We reckon there will only be one Pixel Watch 2 model, and perhaps only in one size, just like the original.

The other big news so far regards the chip inside the watch. 9to5Google cites unnamed sources who claim that the Pixel Watch will be powered by one of the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chips, meaning a switch away from the Samsung Exynos chip used in the first generation. A later Android Authority report suggests it’ll be the W5 Gen 1.

The biggest impact of the shift is likely to be on battery life, with the site reporting that Google is now aiming for more than a day’s battery life with the always-on display enabled – a big jump, considering the first gen could only just last 24 hours without the always-on display.

The battery could also be boosted by software improvements, given that we’re expecting the Pixel Watch 2 to be the first watch to launch with Wear OS 4, which Google has already teased will include battery life improvements and a more colourful user interface based on Material You.

Aside from that, it’s been pretty thin on the ground. So here are the things we hope Google improves with the Pixel Watch 2. 

Better battery life

If there was a main weakness with the Google Pixel Watch, it was the battery life. The small 294mAh cell is a pretty normal size for a smartwatch, but when we reviewed it we encountered inconsistencies in performance, which meant that durability ranged from 48 hours to 12 hours, with no real change in how we were interacting with the device.

Software refinements can no doubt improve upon this, but in the new model we hope that Google can nail down this very important aspect. As we’ve mentioned above, there are rumours of a new chipset in the Pixel Watch 2, so if that is accompanied by software optimisation, then the second edition of Google’ smartwatch could last a lot longer than the one it replaces. 

Support for Qi wireless charging

Although the Pixel Watch does come with its own wireless charger, the device doesn’t support Qi charging, so this means you won’t be able to use it with third-party options. This is particularly annoying when you consider that the Pixel 7 offers reverse wireless charging, but the Pixel Watch is incompatible. 

We’d like to see this changed in the Pixel Watch 2, as it seems a strange oversight by Google in the first place. 

Fitness tracking improvements

While the Pixel Watch offers a good range of fitness tracking options, it omits the auto start, stop and pause features that appear on some current Fitbits such as the Fitbit Sense 2. This means it can miss workouts and not give you the results you’ve earned through your exertions. Again, this seems simply down to software refinements, so we hope to see that implemented in the Pixel Watch 2. 

That’s all we have so far on Google’s new smartwatch, but we’ll keep updating this article as more information comes to light. In the meantime, why not take a look at our guides to the best smartwatch and best fitness trackers to see what other options are available. 

Smartwatches, Wearables