OnePlus CEO Pete Lau in an interview recently announced that the company is still working on its first smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch. During the interview, Lau had also stated that the company is working closely with Google to improve its smartwatch Wear OS, therefore almost indicating that the upcoming OnePlus device would run on the Android-based operating system out-of-the-box. However, that does not appear to be the case anymore as the Chinese smartphone maker has clarified that Lau's remarks over OnePlus Watch development and working with Google for Wear OS are unrelated. "Upcoming smartwatch is not confirmed to be running Wear OS at this point," the company said in a statement to 9to5Google.
Back in November, notable tipster, Max J had claimed that the OnePlus Watch would not arrive with Google's Wear OS out-of-the-box. This came as a shock to many fans, who have enjoyed the company's offerings such as smartphones and TVs that run on Android-based Oxygen OS skin. According to OnePlus' clarifications, it is still possible that the company might go for Google's Wear OS as both are closely working to improve the potential of the Android OS, but its all a speculation. To recall, during the interview, Lau had said, "What we're trying to do is work with Google to try to improve the connectivity between the Wear OS ecosystem, Android TV, and Android smartphones to create this ability for better device interoperability across the ecosystems. This has been something looked at very positively from Google's side as well, so this is the direction that we're trying to develop, but we don't have more than we can share on that right now." The remarks indicate that the Chinese tech company wants to make the Android ecosystem more personal for its users through multiple devices as OnePlus over the last few years has expanded its portfolio with smart TVs, TWS earbuds, and smartphones. Apple is best known for providing this seamless connectivity experience between its devices through proprietary processors or software.
Earlier this year, OnePlus had confirmed the development of the OnePlus Watch, but its exact availability details remained a mystery. It was expected to launch end of this year; however, back in October, Max J claimed that the company postponed its launch indefinitely due to complications with the production or software development. OnePlus even now, has not provided an update over its availability.