The reasonable price of the OnePlus Watch may have finally leaked

While the mobile world’s most trusted leakers, OnePlus itself, and… T-Mobile took care of revealing everything there is to know about the two global high-end phones scheduled to be properly announced tomorrow, the company’s rookie smartwatch effort started the week with a couple of question marks still hovering around its name.

$150 or… more?

That’s simply not how gadget prices work, so it might be best to look at the difference between the EU and US MSRPs of other OnePlus products officially released in both regions. The 8T 5G handset, for instance, normally goes for $749 stateside and €699 in countries like France, Italy, or Germany with 12 gigs of memory and 256 gigs of internal storage, which suggests the OnePlus Watch could start north of $150 in the US.

That is, if the wearable device is indeed headed for the US, which is not yet guaranteed. For what it’s worth, the OnePlus Watch was teased by CEO Pete Lau as a “global” product when the 9R phone was confirmed as an India exclusive just a few days ago, so at least we know the smartwatch will not have the exact same availability fate as the ultra-low-cost OnePlus Band.

If the OnePlus Watch is slated for a US commercial debut soon at a price point of between $150 and $200, the OG Samsung Galaxy Watch Active will be one of its direct rivals.

While similar from a design standpoint, the new guy should eclipse the fitness-centric veteran in terms of sensors, health monitoring capabilities, and especially battery life, although the software may not be quite as advanced as some of you undoubtedly hoped when hearing OnePlus was working with Google on this project.

Basic software + refined design + stellar battery = winner?

 

As it turns out, the OnePlus Watch will not run a “full” version of Wear OS after all, but it remains to be seen exactly what the company’s proprietary software platform can do. Rendered in both black and silver hues by Ishan Agarwal today, the device, which we fully expect to be compatible with Android handsets and iPhones, continues to be teased by its manufacturers on social media as well.

Design this refined takes time. Each #OnePlusWatch is individually hand polished for a stunning finish that’s infinitely irresistible.

— OnePlus 8 (@oneplus) March 22, 2021

The latest such promotional tweet focuses on the hard work needed to “refine” that circular design, which requires the “individual hand polishing” of every single unit for a “stunning finish that’s infinitely irresistible.” 

To be perfectly honest, we wouldn’t call that design irresistible based on existing renders, but perhaps real-life photographs will do the smartwatch justice when it is finally announced and detailed on March 23 and hopefully commercially released shortly thereafter. 

Then again, with a full week of endurance between charges, blazing fast Warp Charge technology, IP68 water and dust resistance, a heart rate monitor, blood oxygen saturation, and sleep tracking purportedly in tow, the OnePlus Watch could have plenty of things going for it under the hood to offset any and all software shortcomings and warrant $150, $175, or even $200. 

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