Google Pixel Watch 5 vs. Pixel Watch 4: All the key differences explored
Considering an upgrade or choosing between Google's smartwatches? This is the guide for you
Google officially revealing the Pixel Watch 5—the latest iteration of its Android smartwatch series—means two things: plenty of Pixel Watch 4 owners will be considering an upgrade, and even more will be trying to choose between the two generations.
Luckily, we've done the hard work for you and scouted the biggest differences from Google's initial announcement.
We spent weeks putting the Pixel Watch 4 through the Wareable testing wringer it debuted last October—and named it the best smartwatch for most Android users.
Below, then, we've lined up Google's own claims for the Pixel Watch 5 against what we found during testing of last year's model.
We haven't completed testing of the Pixel Watch 5—that's currently in progress—so figures like GPS accuracy and sleep-tracking gains are Google's claims... for now.
Over the coming weeks, we'll publish our full verdict—and an update to this head-to-head. But, for now, here are the key things to consider when choosing between the Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Watch 5.
Price and availability
Google has moved its official release timeline up significantly: while the Pixel Watch 4 didn't hit shelves until October, pre-orders for the Pixel Watch 5 open immediately (August 12th), with full availability starting August 20th.
However, that earlier arrival comes with a noticeable price bump across both size variants:
- Pixel Watch 5 (41mm): Starts at $399 / £369 (Wi-Fi) and $499 / £469 (LTE)—that's a $50 / £20 jump over the Pixel Watch 4's original $349 / £349 launch price
- Pixel Watch 5 (45mm): Starts at $429 / £399 (Wi-Fi) and $529 / £499 (LTE)—up from $399 / £399 on last year's 45mm debut
This price increase makes the Pixel Watch 4 an even more tempting bargain.
With the Watch 4 routinely discounted to around $249 / £249 at major retailers, choosing last year's model leaves substantial money in your pocket.
Identical twins, but with new finishes
Case sizes (41mm and 45mm), the aerospace-grade aluminum build, and the signature domed pebble shape are unchanged for another year.
That's no great surprise, given Google has resisted any major case-shape changes throughout all previous generations of the Pixel Watch. In many ways, this is essentially the same device that arrived in 2022.
The Actua 360 display—something we rated as a standout upgrade on the Watch 4, with its 15% smaller bezels and 3,000-nit peak brightness—also carries over largely as-is.
The main visual distinction lies in the color palette. The Pixel Watch 5 introduces an Olive finish with an all-new Satin Pyrite casing, alongside returning favorites Obsidian, Fog, and a 41mm-exclusive Canyon option.
Health features, offline AI, and a new chip
Google confirms the Watch 5 runs a Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated chip, boasting roughly 50% more RAM and a 12% faster CPU than the Watch 4, for a claimed 20% overall performance gain. That headroom looks built for the on-device AI features, rather than raw speed for its own sake.
So, while Gemini debuted on the Pixel Watch 4—replacing Google Assistant with faster, more capable voice interactions—it becomes more proactive on the fifth-gen model.
The 'Raise to Talk' feature now handles core requests on-device and offline, and a new Proactive Suggestions feature surfaces relevant information automatically—such as pulling up dinner reservation details the moment someone asks—and can be confirmed with a double-pinch gesture.
Google prioritizes unique, advanced health features
The Watch 4 already covered the essentials well—ECG, SpO2, skin temperature, and a Fitbit-powered dashboard—alongside carried-over safety tools like Loss of Pulse Detection and satellite SOS. The Watch 5 builds on that foundation.
The headline addition is Breathing Emergency Detection, an industry-first launching in Europe first, which monitors sustained drops in blood oxygen using the optical heart rate sensor, accelerometer, and barometer—and can automatically call for help if you're unresponsive.
Google is also adding monthly trend reports for blood pressure and insulin resistance, plus a Sleep Breathing Quality metric—none of which existed on the Watch 4.
Sleep tracking gets a direct upgrade, too: Google claims 15% more accurate sleep-stage detection, plus new Bedtime Automations and Smart Wake Alarms that monitor heart rate and movement in the 30 minutes before your alarm to wake you during a lighter sleep phase.
The Watch 4's stress tracking, an area we flagged as lagging behind rivals like Oura and Whoop, doesn't appear to have changed.
Improved GPS and fitness features
This generation seems to deliver some big practical upgrades for training—but, as we'll explore below, we would expect the software-specific side of these upgrades to mostly roll back to the Pixel Watch 4 in the coming months, if not immediately.
The Watch 4 tracked 40-plus exercise modes well, but offered little structure beyond that. The Watch 5 adds a Readiness Score to guide training-or-recovery decisions, over 50 tracked activities, and genuine strength and HIIT circuit building with rep, weight, and interval targets synced to your wrist, with a dedicated strength-coaching mode coming in a later update.
On GPS, the Watch 4 was the first Pixel Watch to offer dual-frequency positioning—and, in our testing, it consistently tracked within 30 meters of a Garmin Fenix 8 Pro across testing. It was impressively close—even if it didn't consistently reach Garmin's Multi-Band mode.
Google now says the Watch 5 doubles route accuracy again, using 3D building modeling borrowed from Google Maps and real-time weather corrections. Interestingly, it now says it beats the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro outright.
That's a big claim, and one we're especially keen to test around city courses this autumn—but, in the meantime, H/T to DCRainmaker, whose early testing on this shows that Google may actually be on to something here.
Battery remains unchanged (on the spec sheet)
Like the outward design, there doesn't appear to be any change in this area. That's a little surprising, given the battery gains Samsung made in its latest smartwatch generation—in particular with the flagship Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, which, like the Pixel Watch 5, features a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip.
Google quotes up to 40 hours for the 45mm Watch 5, identical to the figure it gave for the equivalent Watch 4.
One caveat here, though, is that our real-world testing of the last two generations has shown Google's estimates to be a little conservative—so, once we've spent some time with the new generation, that same pattern could repeat again.
Charging speed looks similarly matched, too, with the Quick Charge Dock again promising a fast top-up.
Software features rolling back to Pixel Watch 4
If you own a Pixel Watch 4, you likely won't miss out on every new trick.
As with previous generations, it's very likely Google will maintain broad backward compatibility across Wear OS 7 and the Google Health app. The difficulty here—at least at launch—is that Google hasn't been very clear about which features will roll back to the Pixel Watch 4 and which won't.
These are the features we expect to roll back to Pixel Watch 4 very soon, since they're more tied to software than to hardware architecture.
- Monthly Trend Summaries: The monthly reports for blood pressure, insulin resistance, and breathing quality will roll out across Google's broader wearable
- Google Health Coach: The new Gemini-powered AI coach in the Google Health app works with both Watch 4 and Watch 5 data
- Workout Routine Builder: Creating custom strength/HIIT circuits in the app and syncing them to your wrist will be supported on Watch 4
- Bedtime Automations & Smart Wake: Updated Morning Briefs, light-sleep wake alarms, and auto-pausing audiobooks will arrive via software updates
The following features, though, seem to be exclusive to the Pixel Watch 5 at present. That doesn't mean they won't eventually arrive on the Pixel Watch 4, but due to new-launch priorities and potential architectural changes, it may take a while.
- Breathing Emergency Detection
- Offline Gemini processing
- Improved GPS accuracy
Early verdict: A minor upgrade
On paper, the Pixel Watch 5 looks like exactly what we expected: a refinement rather than a reinvention, with Google's energy going into health sensing and on-device AI rather than the hardware itself.
Whether that's enough, especially at a higher price and with battery life remaining the same, is what we'll find out in the coming weeks. For now, though, here's our advice after seeing the broad outline of what the Pixel Watch 5 delivers:
Should you upgrade from the Pixel Watch 4?
Probably not. Since Google is rolling back many of the key software features—including monthly trend reports, Smart Wake, and Google Health Coach workouts—to last year's hardware, Pixel Watch 4 owners already get 80% of the software experience.
Unless you specifically need offline Gemini or the life-saving potential of Breathing Emergency Detection, your Watch 4 remains a top-tier Android smartwatch.
Which should you choose?
- Choose the Pixel Watch 5 if you want the potential for at-launch improved GPS tracking, value offline AI responsiveness, or want peace-of-mind safety features like Breathing Emergency Detection
- Choose the Pixel Watch 4 if you want the best value for money—it gives you the same exterior design, quoted battery life, and core Fitbit metrics for significantly less cash
