LG's next LTE-packing Wear smartwatch could be called Libre

LG has been granted the trademark for the name Libre in an application that suggests it will be tied to an upcoming smartwatch.

The Libre trademark was filed and granted in Korea, at the Intellectual Property Office and was categorized under smartwatches, with tags for LTE also providing evidence it could come packing cellular connectivity.

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The folks at LetsGoDigital, who first spotted the trademark also put their translating caps on and deduced that the word libre means free in both Spanish and French. So could the name mean that this watch will work free from a smartphone like the Apple Watch Series 3 LTE or LG's own Wear-running Watch Sport?

Since the start of the year we've heard rumblings about new LG smartwatches first through trademarks made for the names Iconic and Icon. Then there was talk about the LG Timepiece, a smartwatch that would apparently put physical hands on top of a Wear OS touchscreen display. In May, a new LG watch rocking the model number LM-W315 was spotted while someone from LG started dishing out details to the press in its native Korea about a new watch landing in June. It name-dropped the same LM-W315 model name that was spotted hitting the FCC along with news that it would be priced at around $300-$400.

So it sounds very much like LG is prepping to show of one or even multiple smartwatches and we are definitely due an upgrade. We haven't seen something new from LG since the Watch Sport and Style, which both launched in early 2017. When we will see these new watches is the big question. We do know that Qualcomm is prepping to launch a new dedicated smartwatch chipset before the end of the year, which is likely to feature in all upcoming Wear smartwatches including a flagship device, which may or may not be the Google Pixel Watch.

So with new Wear watches potentially on the way from LG, Google and even a whole bunch from Fossil, it looks set to be a busy second half of the year for smartwatches packing Google's operating system.