IFA 2016 saw quite a number of wearables being released, ranging from fitness wearables, Samsung’s new Tizen powered Gear S3, the Android Wear ASUS ZenWatch 3 and Fossil’s new Q lineup, just to name a few. With the fourth quarter of 2016 closing in, it looks like big players Huawei, LG and Motorola won’t be releasing any Android Wear watches this year.
According to a CNET report, the above mentioned manufacturers will not release smartwatches in the coming months leading to the end of the year. This news may appear unsurprising to some, considering the fact that Android Wear 2.0 has only seen Developer Previews thus far, with no sign of the official release anytime soon. That could possibly be the reason as to why the tech wearable giants are holding it off for this year. Contrastingly, Huawei, LG and Motorola have released their Android Wear smartwatches respectively during IFA 2015. Speaking of IFA, the ZenWatch 3 which was unveiled by ASUS at this year’s trade show hasn’t seen any release date either, as promising as the new smartwatch may seem.
As for Samsung, the Gear S3 will be released later this year, and it seems that it will just be Apple and Samsung for this year’s wearable showdown, as the former has launched the Apple Watch Series 2, being more fitness oriented than ever. Meanwhile, the absence of big players in the wearable game has seen the spotlight shifting to the likes of Fossil’s new Android Wear lineup as a follow up to its Q Founder smartwatch, and the Michael Kors Access, also running Android Wear, following the trend of designer brands with their attempts on Google’s wearable OS. What do you think?
Source: CNET