Rumors of a Huawei Watch 2 2018 have been bouncing around the internet for the last few weeks, but now the device is official with the company announcing a refresh of 2017's Android Wear device for China.
The Huawei Watch 2 2018 is now official, but so far it has only been confirmed for a Chinese release and there's no word on whether it'll come to other countries. Huawei has a history of only releasing some devices in China, so it may be this is one of them.
It's a remarkably similar device to the Huawei Watch 2 we saw launch last year with the biggest upgrade over last year's watch is a switch from nanoSIM support to an eSIM.
This feature allows you to use the same phone number across your smartwatch as your phone so you can make calls and receive texts directly from your wrist without having to tell people you have two numbers.
It's a feature we've seen on the Apple Watch 3, and it should make the Huawei Watch 2 a much easier device to use independently from your phone.
Is eSIM enough?
Huawei has also packed in a capacitance sensor that can be used for monitoring humidity and sweat but the company has yet to reveal what it's going to be used for.
There's also a geomagnetic sensor that should allow it to have improvements in terms of tracking your outdoor adventures. Plus it also comes running Wear OS software, which is the same as we've seen come to the Huawei Watch 2 in a recent update.
Everything else here is the same as what we saw last year with the same design, a 1.2-inch 390 x 390 AMOLED display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 chipset inside.
If you already own the Huawei Watch 2, this isn't going to be a major upgrade for your wrist at all. There's also a nanoSIM model and Bluetooth version on sale in China too, which without that eSIM feature look like particularly limited upgrades.
This is quite a confusing move from Huawei to launch a new version of last year's watch, especially considering Huawei CEO Richard Yu confirmed the company was working on a new version of its watch to TechRadar back in February this year.
It may be that this Huawei Watch 2 2018 was the version he was referring to when he said, " It will come later - there’s no hurry because Huawei Watch 2 sells well. We’re not in a hurry, so we’re launching the new watch later."
Originally we'd expected the company to reveal a Huawei Watch 3 and it may be we see the company launch a major upgrade to its smartwatch later this year. That said, this new Huawei Watch 2 2018 does suggest the company isn't close to finishing up and releasing a third smartwatch.
The Huawei Watch 2 2018 costs a similar amount to the original Huawei Watch 2 in China at 1,988 yuan, which translates to around $310 / £230 / AU $400. That means this isn't a more affordable version of the device.
These minor upgrades would be good additions to a next-gen watch as well, so we'll hopefully see the company embrace this tech if and when we see the Huawei Watch 3.
Via Wareable
