The long-awaited OnePlus smartwatch may not use Google's wear OS when it is launched if industry tipster Max Jambor is to be believed. OnePlus uses the OxygenOS modified version of Google's Android operating system for all of its smartphones, so it has been widely expected that it would use Google's wearables operating system for any smartwatch it released. If that proves not to be the case, the question is what direction OnePlus will go in.
Of course, the issue seems to be largely irrelevant for the foreseeable future, with Jambor having also suggested recently that the OnePlus watch had been delayed indefinitely. There had been suggestions that OnePlus might launch its first smartwatch in October, with the company having tweeted "More things are coming to the OnePlus ecosystem. It's just a matter of time." accompanied by some design sketches from around 2015 for a proposed smartwatch that ultimately did not come to fruition. However, Jambor cited multiple sources that had reportedly indicated a delay to the launch with no new date having been set.
No reasons were said to have been given for the delay, but Jambor speculated that complications with production or software development might have been the cause. If it's the case that OnePlus is working with an unfamiliar operating system — or potentially developing its own — this might begin to explain the apparent delay to the launch of the smartwatch. One would expect wear OS, as an established platform, and OnePlus' existing relationship with Google to have made for relatively smooth going, were that the operating system of choice.
OnePlus Watch: What Now?
Jambor's latest tip gives little else away. Posted to Twitter, it simply stated: "OnePlus Watch does not run Google's Wear OS". Among the speculation as to what might be the alternative has been the idea that the watch might simply run on a modified version of wear OS, the more intriguing idea that a modified version of Android might be used, or, most intriguingly of all, that OnePlus might be designing its own operating system from the ground up.
As ever with rumors and leaks, it's best to take everything with a pinch of salt. We won't know what's really going on until OnePlus tells and, for the time being, the most we have is a hint from the firm that a smartwatch is on the way. When that will be, is anyone's guess.
Source: Max Jambor