In the first months of 2021, Google’s parent company Alphabet completed the acquisition of Fitbit, the world’s fifth largest wearable technology company, with over 29 million users globally. This was probably a key event on the pathway to the release of Google’s own watch, the Pixel Watch, that has been launched along the new series of Pixel smartphones.
Well before the Pixel event, the watch’s design was unveiled with a YouTube video on the official Made by Google channel. The short footage shows a device that takes a different form factor when compared to the Apple Watch, undisputed king of smartwatches, and also the world’s most popular timepiece. Pixel Watch sports a rounded design, with a digital crown on its side. It features rounded 3D edges and three different color options: black, silver and gold.
With a design inspired by a drop of water, and featuring different analog and digital faces, Pixel Watch is launched with a large choice of detachable wristbands users can buy, realized with various materials – plastic, metal, leather -, and with a color selection that keeps coherence with the tones of the Pixel portfolio palette. The band docks magnetically to the wristband and according to Google it’s extremely easy it is to switch from one to another.
Presented as the “ultimate companion for Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro”, the watch also is the first device to combine Google’s and Fitbit’s know-hows. So, along with Google apps and experiences everybody would expect to be onboard, from Wallet to Maps and Assistant and more, Pixel Watch also features continuously heart rate traking, Fitbit’s most accurate so far, while a fall detection function is coming in 2023.
The Pixel Watch starts at $349 for the Wi-Fi version, while the LTE version costs $399. The device comes with three months of YouTube Music and six of Fitbit Premium, with sleep tracking, workout programs and more.
Google defines is as a device “designed to make you do things”.
Along with the Watch, the Pixel family portfolio was updated with the new smartphones Pixel and Pixel Pro, and Pixel Tablet.