The OnePlus Watch 3 underwent its full reveal earlier this week, boasting new sensor architecture, a fully functional rotating crown, and a 120-hour battery life estimate. The brand has now also confirmed how it’s been able to reach the quoted staying power even with heavy usage, effectively outlining how users can maximize it.
As with the company’s previous-gen Android smartwatch, it would appear users will be able to stretch that battery life even further by understanding which tasks hammer the central processing unit (CPU) and microprocessor unit (MPU), respectively.
It’s something we’re particularly interested in after almost reaching the brand’s 72-hour battery claim with the always-on display enabled and some heavy use elsewhere (including around an hour of GPS tracking per day) during our full review. Typically, we’d fail to get anywhere close.
Well, speaking to Trusted Reviews, Dr. Leo Zhang, Head of R&D at the OnePlus Health Lab, has outlined why users are still able to maximize the battery life on the upcoming smartwatch.
“Below the CPU, we have a very powerful MCU,” Zhang says. “As far as fitness and health tracking sensors, those are all on the MCU level,” while the CPU focuses solely on running the OS itself.
“Most of the time, the sensors are working in the background – that effectively allows the low-powered MCU to bear most of the daily grunt.”
Dr. Zhang also suggested that Wear OS rivals run both the OS and sensors on the CPU, meaning that battery life takes an unnecessary hit when sensors are sampling.
The real question is whether the OnePlus Watch 3 will remain the undisputed battery champion for long, with new watch generations from Mobvoi, Samsung, and Google expected in 2025.
