OnePlus may be making a smartwatch called the OnePlus Watch

Earlier this year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus Nord, the brand’s first mid-range smartphone since the 2015 OnePlus X. The launch of the Nord signaled a shift in strategy for OnePlus; the company is arguably returning to its roots by making affordable smartphones once again. But smartphones aren’t the only tech products that OnePlus is now making. The company has diversified its product portfolio, with offerings in the smart TV market under the OnePlus TV line. Now, it seems that OnePlus may be ready to enter a new market: smartwatches. Apparently, the company may be making a smartwatch called the OnePlus Watch.

The other day, a device with the marketing name “OnePlus Watch” appeared on the website of Indonesia’s IMDA regulatory body. The device is listed as a “Wearable Watch” with model name W301GB as per the listing, but the listing doesn’t reveal any more information, such as the specifications, software, or design. Most likely, it’ll run Google’s Wear OS and feature a Snapdragon Wear system-on-chip, potentially the recently-announced Snapdragon Wear 4100.

This is not the first time that we’ve heard of OnePlus potentially launching a smartwatch. Back in 2016, OnePlus actually confirmed that the company was developing a smartwatch. “We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it. We have to be focused,” said OnePlus CEO Pete Lau during the 2016 Converge tech conference held in Hong Kong. Like Google, OnePlus didn’t want to enter the smartwatch market with a half-baked product, so they have apparently bided their time until they’re comfortable enough with where wearable tech has progressed in the industry.

We’ve heard something similar when they talked about waiting to bring wireless charging to OnePlus phones and when they talked about releasing truly wireless earbuds. Perhaps OnePlus now thinks that Wear OS and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear platforms are mature enough to base a new product on, or they’ve advanced their own tech to the point where a OnePlus-branded smartwatch is ready for primetime. Notably, OPPO, OnePlus’s sister company under the BBK Electronics umbrella, recently launched its own smartwatch in China and in India, so that could be the impetus for the development of a OnePlus Watch. Interestingly, the “supplier” listed in the IMDA certification is “SINOPPEL DEVICE PTE. LTD,” which is a business that was formerly registered as “SINGAPORE OPPO ELECTRONICS PTE. LTD.”

A potential OnePlus Watch could be launched right alongside OnePlus’ late-year releases, which potentially includes the OnePlus 8T series and an even more affordable Nord device, and released to the market roughly around the same timeframe. This is just a blind guess, though, as there’s no evidence or credible rumor about the launch timeframe. We reached out to OnePlus for comment on this rumor and will update this article if/when we hear back.

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