While we already know the OnePlus Watch 2 is coming very soon (in fact, it’s due to be announced in full on February 26 at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, or MWC) we’ve got some more details about the device itself, and it’s said to sport frankly incredible battery life, topping out at 100 hours in ‘smartwatch mode’.
That alone would make it worthy of inclusion in our best smartwatches list, as battery life is still, in 2024, a real sticking point for smartwatches. While some stripped-back training tools like Garmin devices can last for weeks on end, most smartwatches from the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Google prioritize function over longevity. The Google Pixel Watch 2 boasts an ‘all-day’ battery life of a measly 24 hours, while even the best Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Ultra 2, clocks in at 36 hours.
The OnePlus Watch 2 looks set to change all that, with its 100 hour-claims. In an exclusive interview with TechRadar, CEO of OnePlus Europe Bingo Liu said: “the OnePlus Watch 2 takes smartwatch battery performance a significant step forward with a staggering battery life of up to 100 hours. That’s more than double the battery life of our competitors.”
When asked how this was achieved, Liu replied: “While I can’t reveal too much at this stage, I can confirm that the battery performance is based on substantial chipset innovation that optimizes performance based on the use case at hand. By innovating in this way, the OnePlus Watch 2 can achieve market-beating battery life while in full Smart Mode, without compromising on functionality.”
The last iteration of the OnePlus Watch actually lasted longer than this - at 14 days, it rivaled some of the best Garmin watches - but that’s because it frankly didn’t do very much, with a bespoke OS and basic list of pre-generated apps. A Wear OS watch would be far more versatile.
When asked if the OS was going to be the same OnePlus-only option this go-round, Liu replied: “We are saving announcements for our OS for the launch keynote, but what I can say is that it’s been an area of great focus for us.
“It’s been three years since we first announced the OnePlus Watch. Our focus, like many of our products in the last year, has been to listen to our community feedback and create products that meet their needs.”
Analysis: A 100-hour Wear OS watch?
Liu’s refusal to spill any details on the OS is interesting. Google, with all its might, can’t make a Wear OS watch that lasts more than a day. If OnePlus’ next watch can run on Wear OS 4 rather than another stripped-down interface, it will be a great achievement and certainly worthy of note.
Wear OS watches also come with many possibilities thanks to access to the Google Play store. One of the biggest problems of the original OnePlus Watch is its small coterie of basic apps, so a true Wear OS sequel would solve that problem straight away.
Of course, this is all still conjecture: we’ll know more when the OnePlus Watch 2 is officially announced at the MWC keynote presentation on Sunday (February 25).
