Wear OS, Google's Android-based OS for smartwatches, is finally getting some much-needed love from Google this year. In collaboration with Samsung, Google is rebuilding the wearable platform with new health features and a brand-new UI. Samsung and the Google-owned Fitbit are working on new hardware with the updated OS release, but they're not the only ones making new Wear OS smartwatches. Chinese electronics brand OPPO is also gearing up to launch the OPPO Watch 2, according to the latest rumors.

Last year, OPPO unveiled the OPPO Watch, the brand's first entry in the smartwatch market. The smartwatch certainly resembles the Apple Watch with its square design, but internally, of course, it was far from a clone. Outside of China, the OPPO Watch runs Wear OS and is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC.

By the time the watch launched internationally, its SoC was already succeeded by the far better Snapdragon Wear 4100. To date, there's only one Wear OS smartwatch to have Qualcomm's latest and greatest wearable processor: Mobvoi's TicWatch Pro 3. There are rumors that new Motorola-branded smartwatches will launch this year with Qualcomm's upgraded wearable SoC, but until they do, the TicWatch Pro 3 stands at the top of Wear OS watches in terms of performance and battery life without compromising on features. That may change with the upcoming OPPO Watch 2, according to an analysis of firmware files collected by tipster mlgmxyysd.

The tipster shared information online pertaining to the upcoming OPPO Watch 2. According to the evidence they shared, there will potentially be up to 7 models:

Model number

Size

Color (derived from hexadecimal values)

OW20W3

46mm

Dusty Gray (#FF9B9B9B)

OW20W1

46mm

Mine Shaft (#FF1F1F1F)

OW20W1

46mm

Steel Blue (#FF4285A1)

OW20W2

42mm

Mine Shaft (#FF1F1F1F)

OW20W2

42mm

Gold Sand (#FFE9BA9B)

OW20W2

42mm

Water Leaf (#FFAAE6E9)

OW20W2

42mm

Matisse (#FF2255A3)

The tipster believes the wearable will feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100 wearable platform, based on the fact that the build property file lists the SoC as "msm8937_32go" which they say is the same value listed in the TicWatch Pro 3's firmware. (On my wn oTicWatch Pro 3 GPS, the value of "ro.board.platform" is set to "msm8937" while the Watch 2's build property file mentions "msm8937_32go", so this seems plausible.) The tipster says the OS is based on top of Android 8.1 Oreo and won't be running Wear OS in China, but if it does launch internationally, it will likely run Wear OS. While the original model had 8GB of internal storage, a line in the build property file suggests the new model will have 16GB of storage. Lastly, the tipster shared some details on the software, including new watch faces, the addition of stress detection, and a new OPPO Relax app. The tipster sideloaded the new apps onto their first-gen OPPO Watch to show off what these features look like, but keep in mind that their findings only pertain to the Chinese software release.

According to the tipster, the OPPO Watch 2 will retain the square design of its predecessor, but this information is based on placeholder files contained within the smartwatch's firmware. However, there's some circumstantial evidence that suggests the next wearable will have a square design. Another tipster shared images of what's purported to be a poster teasing the OPPO Enco Free2 and OPPO Reno 6 series (both of which launched earlier today in China) as well as the OPPO Watch 2.

At the launch event for the Reno 6 series, OPPO shared a teaser image that hints its upcoming smartwatch will have a square design. At the event, they also said the new wearable will feature a chip called the Apollo4s developed in conjunction with Ambiq. Tipster mlgmxyysd claims this chipset will be used in conjunction with the Snapdragon Wear 4100 in order for the wearable to run a low-power RTOS alongside the main OS. If true, this could improve the battery life when the watch isn't being actively used or when it's performing tasks better suited for the co-processor. They also claim that the watch will support LTE connectivity via built-in eSIM support.

However, it's not confirmed if the wearable teased at the event will be the OPPO Watch 2, a China-exclusive version of the OPPO Watch 2, or another smartwatch entirely. After all, the Chinese version of the OPPO Watch features a different processor and software version than the global model, and there are also rumors that OPPO is working on a smartwatch called the OPPO Watch Free. The evidence that mlgmxyysd shared is convincing enough that OPPO is working on an OPPO Watch 2, but we can't rule out the possibility that these specs are wrong or that company is working on more than one smartwatch at the moment. Once we learn more information about OPPO's wearable plans, we'll share an update.