OnePlus To Produce Smartwatch Come 2021

OnePlus will finally be making a smartwatch in 2021, CEO Pete Lau has announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

With the announcement, the company will be marking its foray into wearable devices for the smartphone company.

Lau failed to give details about the upcoming device in terms of what smartwatch OS it’ll run, the price, or even a firm release date but only confirmed that it’ll be “released early next year.”

The idea of a OnePlus smartwatch isn’t a new one; the company had reportedly designed a Wear OS (then still called Android Wear) smartwatch a few years ago. OnePlus ultimately nixed that product, though, “We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it,” Lau said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “We have to be focused.”

Many of you said you wanted a watch, and as you might have heard over the weekend—we're making one, to be released early next year. Wishes do come true.? https://t.co/H1Fqv9srXj

— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) December 22, 2020

OnePlus has started to branch out beyond phones in recent years, though in addition to its high-end smartphone lineup each year, the company now makes an array of headphones, a budget line of Nord phones, and even smart TVs.

The launch of a OnePlus smartwatch in 2021 which will be the first from the company, comes hot on the heels of the release of the Oppo Watch earlier this year, which was similar to the first-ever smartwatch that Oppo had made.

Given that there’s been no shortage of similarities in the past between Oppo and OnePlus products (the two companies share an owner, the massive conglomerate BBK Electronics), it’s possible that the upcoming OnePlus watch may take some cues from the existing Oppo Watch.