The recently announced Montblanc Summit 3 smartwatch with Wear OS 3.0 will iOS compatible – offering hope that the new OS won't be an Android-only affair.
That important detail about compatibility was confirmed to Wareable by a spokesperson from Qualcomm – and rips up what we thought we knew about Wear OS 3.0.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 was the first Wear OS 3 smartwatch to launch back in 2021, but the Korean tech giant opted to make the Watch 4 compatible with Android phones only, despite offering support for both platforms with the previous Galaxy Watch.
Meanwhile, while the Google Pixel Watch plus other Wear hardware partners like Fossil, Mobvoi and Tag Heuer are yet to confirm iOS compatibility.
That had led many to question whether Wear OS 3.0 will be compatible with iOS at all. This news gives hope to owners of existing Fossil smartwatches due to receive the Wear 3.0 upgrade that they will be able to receive the new features.
Qualcomm is of course the chipset maker that currently powers the majority of Wear OS watches. Its latest Snapdragon Wear 4100+ setup is seen as a key component to enabling smartwatches that pack it to be support the revamped smartwatch operating system.
The Summit 3 includes that 4100+ processor, and will be the first Wear OS 3.0 smartwatch to go on sale that will work with both Android and iOS devices.
The Montblanc Summit 3 will go on sale on the 15 July for €1,250 and it will be one that both Android and iOS users will be able to consider strapping on.
Hopefully it won't be long before we find out if Fossil, Tag Heuer, Mobvoi and others will follow Montblanc or do a Samsung and keep new Wear for Android phone owners only.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.