OnePlus Watch design leak reveals a unique Apple Watch rival

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OnePlus Watch could be a new Apple Watch 6 rival — with one crucial difference

Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
The OnePlus Watch could look like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 (Image credit: Future)

The OnePlus Watch is still too much of a moving target to know much about. However, we may have just learned of one of its key design elements.

Max J., a leaker who has regularly provided accurate information about OnePlus products, claims that the OnePlus Watch will have a round face, unlike the segment-leading Apple Watch 5.

Max J. had tried to leak this information a day earlier with this tweet. Unfortunately, his image was too subtle for his followers to understand, hence the clarification today.

Having a round face means that OnePlus is aiming for something more like a traditional watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, rather than something more unique such as the square-sided Apple Watch or something resembling a fitness tracker. Although the Apple Watch 6 is expected to appear within the next week at an event on Sept. 15, the rumors don't point to Apple swapping to a circular design.

It also means it won't share a resemblance to the Oppo Watch or the Vivo watch, the wearables offered by OnePlus' stablemates under parent company BBK Electronics. Both of these use a rectangular design rather than a round one, although that doesn't mean they won't share components and features with OnePlus.

For example, its processor and operating system. The Oppo Watch runs on a Snapdragon Wear 3100 and Google's Wear OS, and although we'd expect any newly released smartwatch to use the Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset, the operating system would likely remain the same.

2020 has seen OnePlus expand its range of products significantly. Not only did we see the OnePlus Nord emerge as a brand new mid-range phone from the company, but also the debut of OnePlus Buds, the company's first true wireless earbuds.

We're expecting the OnePlus 8T, a mid-life refresh of the existing OnePlus 8, to arrive around October if previous years' schedules are anything to go by. OnePlus could therefore take the opportunity to show off the Watch also, assuming it's ready. Otherwise, the next event we can predict for OnePlus would likely be next April for the OnePlus 9 series.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.