We know that Oppo is preparing a new version of its flagship smartwatch – and now it’s been officially teased by the company.
The new smartwatch will land with the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chip on board, and will be the first device to run the new wearables platform. And it could land on 10 August, on the same day as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5.
Huawei teased the watch on Weibo, and showed off a curved body, large screen and black and silver finishes with silicone and leather straps.
But new leaks from Evan Blass have given a more candid look at the new Oppo Watch.
The original Oppo Watch bore more than a small resemblance to the the Apple Watch, although this time out it seems Oppo is using a curved body.
That will hug the contours of the wrist, which could make it more comfortable to wear – especially as there seems to be a large screen on board.
It’s been done before – not least by the Oppo Watch Free – which boasts a slight curve. And readers with long memories might recall the Asus Zenwatch back in 2014, which also used a curved screen to offset a large display.
OPPO Watch 3 series pic.twitter.com/mQOYMEliYo
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 5, 2022
In fact, we can’t help but remembering the Zenwatch with the brown leather strap. It seems we really have gone full circle.
There’s no word on the Oppo Watch 3 landing outside of China, but we assume it will eventually.
And it will be notable for being the first to use the Snapdragon W5. This enables smartwatches built on manufacturer platforms to take advantage of Qualcomm’s co-processor for improved performance and battery life.
So it will be interesting to see the kind of improvements the platform could offer as a bellweather for the next generation of smartwatches.
In an interview with Wareable, Qualcomm told us it has 25 smartwatches in the works, and didn’t rule out the platform being used for smartglasses and other wearables.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.