The timer is counting down to the launch of the Google Pixel Watch (and the Pixel 7 series), slated for October 6, but that hasn't stemmed the flow of leaks in the meantime; with one of the latest addressing one of the watch's less talked-about traits: its battery life.
This latest Pixel Watch reveal, reportedly originating from a Taiwanese mobile carrier and subsequently circulated on a "Google News" Telegram channel, includes what appears to be official looking press imagery that details various aspects of the Pixel Watch, including box contents and key functionality.
Within these feature details, there's mention of the Pixel Watch's Gorilla Glass-protected front, Fitbit integration, box contents and more. But paired to one shot of the Pixel Watch on its charger (a plastic magnetic charging puck with a USB-C connection, it would appear) is word of the battery longevity Google's debut smartwatch is supposedly promising: claiming to last 24-hours.
While fitness trackers and multisport watches from the likes of Garmin promise battery life in terms of days, feature-rich smartwatches with full-color LCDs or OLED displays and smooth UI animation – like the latest Apple Watch 8 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 – instead usually quote in terms of hours.
The new Apple Watch Ultra is Apple's smartwatch battery champion right now, promising between 36 and 60 hours life (depending on use case), Samsung's latest Watch 5 adds a promised ten hours over its predecessor (at a total of 50 hours), and the Apple Watch 8 serves up the same quoted 18-hour lifespan as last year's Apple Watch 7.
Analysis: does 24-hours really mean all day?
If this leak is on the money, the promise of 24-hours of use per charge puts the Pixel Watch in the middle of the pack – based on its assumed rivals from Apple and Samsung, however, regardless of what the numbers say, 24-hours might not actually be all that long in real-world use.
Despite a 13% year-on-year bump to battery capacity, 2022's Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 still only serves up daily use, with our review stating, "you'll need a charge every 24 hours" and that comes from a watch that quotes a 50-hour battery.
With the Pixel Watch promising less than half that and thought to be relying on the same 5nm Exynos W920 chipset as both the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5, if its power demands and power management are anything like Samsung's the Pixel Watch's actual battery life could be its biggest weakness.
While there's little else to uncover about the Pixel Watch at this late stage, we have to wait until Thursday, October 6 for the final details, and then for a full gamut of tests from our reviews process to establish whether this long-awaited technological timepiece is worthy of a place among the best smartwatches out there.
