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Is HUAWEI even trying with smartwatches anymore?
- HUAWEI will allegedly release the Watch 2 (2018), a refreshed version of 2017’s Watch 2.
- The Watch 2 (2018) reportedly features the same specifications, but includes support for eSIM.
- We do not know if the Watch 2 (2018) is the U.S. version of the Watch 2 Pro, which launched in China last October.
From time to time, iteration gets to the point where companies only make change to the inside and leave the outside alone. Folks might get upset when that happens, and companies like Samsung and Apple are guilty of this. At least there are still changes, however.
Huawei, meanwhile, seems more than happy to make as few changes as possible for the follow-up to its 2017 Wear OS-powered smartwatch.
That is according to VentureBeat writer Evan Blass, who alleged that HUAWEI will eventually release the Watch 2 (2018). The smartwatch reportedly features the aging Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 processor, 768MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 420mAh battery.
*The only significant difference between the HUAWEI Watch 2 2018 and the original, is the addition of eSIM support. All other specs and the design remain unchanged.— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 14, 2018
Elsewhere, the Watch 2 (2018) allegedly sports a 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 AMOLED display, IP68 dust and water resistance, GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
If all of that sounds familiar, that is because the Watch 2 released in 2017 features the exact same internals. Blass claimed that the only difference between it and the Watch 2 (2018) is the latter’s support for eSIM.
Even then, that would make the Watch 2 (2018) the same as the Watch 2 Pro, which was announced last October. As such, we have to wonder whether HUAWEI will simply launch the Watch 2 Pro as the Watch 2 (2018) in the U.S.
If this is true, I am not sure what HUAWEI is playing at with such a strategy. It is not as if smartwatch market share is at a standstill, and Qualcomm will soon launch new and smaller smartwatch chips. Even LG, which similarly released a Wear OS smartwatch last year, will reportedly release an aesthetically-different smartwatch in the next month or two.
Maybe HUAWEI wants the Watch 2 (2018) to be a temporary placeholder for another smartwatch this year. Maybe that smartwatch will be radically different from HUAWEI’s previous options.
If the rumor is true, however, the Watch 2 (2018) would be indicative of a company whose interest in smartwatches might be almost gone.