Oppo’s Apple Watch clone is coming March 6 — here’s your first look

Oppo’s Apple Watch clone is coming March 6 — here’s your first look
(Image credit: Oppo)

Oppo's Apple Watch clone has an official name and release date, but if you're like us, you're more curious if the Chinese company will receive a lawsuit from Cupertino. 

The 'Oppo Watch' — which even sounds like a bit like 'Apple Watch' — will be unveiled on Friday, March 6th at the company’s Oppo Find X2 launch event. A tweet announcing the event also gave us our best look let at the upcoming smartwatch, confirming its curved glass display and Apple Watch-like square casing.

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While it's too soon to say what the Apple Watch 6 will look like, Apple's smartwatch design has gone unchanged since the first series launched in 2015. There's speculation Apple could make an Apple Watch with a circular screen, but there's no reason right now to believe the company will ditch the best-selling iconic form.

The Oppo smartwatch veers away from being a full Apple Watch clone by ditching the twisting digital crown, instead opting for two buttons on the right side of the case. 

Of course the Oppo Watch won't have all the Apple Watch's incredible fitness features, and it's highly unlikely that it will sport the ECG monitor found in the Apple Watch 5. It's also unclear whether the Oppo Watch will use Google's Wear OS platform or some other Android-based variant.

The Oppo Watch also sports a 3-D and 2.5-D curved glass that we've appeared on smartphones before, but it's refreshing to see the technique employed on a device of this size. 

And, for what it's worth, it looks great. For what's likely to be a budget smartwatch, the 3-D glass lends a premium effect. It comes in black and copper cases, and includes straps that are obvious knockoffs of Apple's sport bands. 

Oppo’s event will take place this Friday, March 6th, at 4:30 a.m. ET, so we'll be learning more about the Oppo Watch very soon.

Kate Kozuch

Kate Kozuch is the managing editor of social and video at Tom’s Guide. She covers smartwatches, TVs and audio devices, too. Kate appears on Fox News to talk tech trends and runs the Tom's Guide TikTok account, which you should be following. When she’s not filming tech videos, you can find her taking up a new sport, mastering the NYT Crossword or channeling her inner celebrity chef.