Google plans to release two Android Wear 2.0 flagship smartwatches in early 2017

As industry critics and tech media speculate whether the whole smartwatch market will last, Google isn’t ready to throw in the towel for its initiative. According to The Verge’s interview with Android Wear Product Manager Jeff Chang, there will be two flagship smartwatches coming out early next year and both will be the first to carry the Android Wear 2.0. These won’t be branded as Google smartwatches but will carry the names of the manufacturer who made them. Chang won’t give the name of the company they collaborated with for the new smartwatches but he says this manufacturer has produced Android Wear devices before. Chang also adds that the collaboration with this brand is much like the Google Nexus smartphone program of recent past. You can expect more announcements in 2017 of new Android Wear 2.0 devices starting from CES in a few weeks and Baselworld later in the year.

This upcoming launch also signals the arrival of Android Wear 2.0 to some of the existing Android Wear watches. Not all of them will be getting the update but most of the recent models will (we’ll list them down below). Some of the new features coming to Google’s wearable platform include support for Android Pay and Google’s voice-controlled Assistant as well as the arrival of standalone apps that can work without the use of a phone. Android Pay though won’t come to all devices as it requires a specific hardware spec for it to work. The final developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 comes out in January. According to Chang, it’ll work with iOS devices and that Wear 2.0 on Android and iOS will have support for Android Pay.

The existing smartwatches that will get Android Wear 2.0 are:

• Asus ZenWatch 3
• Asus ZenWatch 2
• Casio Smart Outdoor Watch
• Fossil Q Founder
• Fossil Q Marshal
• Fossil Q Wander
• Huawei Watch
• Huawei Watch Ladies
• LG G Watch R
• LG Watch Urbane
• LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE
• Michael Kors Access Bradshaw Smartwatch
• Michael Kors Access Dylan Smartwatch
• Moto 360 Gen 2
• Moto 360 Sport
• Nixon Mission
• Polar M600
• Tag Heuer Connected