Google needs to release a Pixel Watch Ultra

The Pixel Watch 3 is enjoying a good response, so Google has decided to address the bigger complaints about its watches. The watch now has a larger size of 45mm and improved fitness tracking accuracy that you want from top-of-the-line smartwatches. It’ll be a while before a Pixel Watch 4 is on the radar, but I’m excited to see what Google has in store. There’s something else I’d like to see from Google: a Pixel Watch Ultra that competes with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. Hopefully Google can come up with a more original name. Nevertheless, I think the concept makes sense for these reasons.

Proof of Google’s fitness knowledge

Take on the big players in fitness technology

Google’s fitness ambitions have been all about overall health. Rick Osterloh, responsible for Google’s platform and devices division, summed it up after the Fitbit acquisition in 2021. The goal is to “make health and wellness more accessible to more people.” In terms of corporate missions, this is admirable, even if profit is at stake.

This means that Google hasn’t focused on the target market for “ultra” watches, such as athletes, adventurers and others who want to push their limits. Also the market for products like the Garmin Enduro. Counting steps is useful at the beginning of a fitness program, but it won’t help you break the three-hour mark in a marathon. You can’t dive with a Google Pixel Watch 3. Without a cover, the product is not robust enough for activities such as powerlifting and mountaineering. The glass edges are exposed to stones and fitness equipment, for example.

Google could ignore this market because it is smaller. Still, at some point, Google will have to prove that it offers as robust a design and top-notch fitness tracking as its competitors. A Pixel Watch Ultra could serve as a “halo” device. You might be enticed to buy something mainstream by demonstrating the company’s expertise, even if you don’t need anything that extreme or expensive.

Read our review

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Months of battery life is a bonus

The hidden high-end audience

Nobody has to know your shame

An open secret among ultra buyers is that many are not athletes or adventurers. Instead, it’s people with disposable income who don’t want the limitations of most smartwatches. For example, the Apple Watch Series 10 has a paltry 18 hours of battery life without turning on power saving mode, and doesn’t last as long when using features like GPS. An Ultra 2 may be overkill, but you can do things like sleep monitoring and cross-country travel without worrying about your next charge.

Other buyers may like the security or aesthetics of a sturdy design, or want something with a larger display. Something like the 47mm Galaxy Watch Ultra can look gigantic on your wrist, but offers better readability and control. Typing a long message on a 41mm Pixel Watch is nearly impossible.

A Pixel Watch Ultra could appeal to a large audience as long as Google checks the specs I mentioned.

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The competition argument

Or why a Pixel Watch Ultra is probably inevitable

I’m betting that a Pixel Watch Ultra will appear sooner or later for the simplest reason. Tech giants like Google don’t like it when competitors have complete control over a product category. That’s why we have things like Pixel devices, Nest speakers and Google Gemini. That’s probably why we have Android, because there was a chance that Google could have become another player in smartphone browser searches, and there was advertising revenue.

The underlying logic is simple. If rivals control a category unchallenged for years, it may be difficult or impossible to break into that category. A rival may also use its dominance to advance or introduce other product categories. Apple does this regularly with the iPhone. There probably wouldn’t be an Apple Watch or HomePods if the iPhone wasn’t a huge hit in the North American market and, to a lesser extent, overseas.

Google could choose to sit this one out, but a Pixel Watch Ultra makes too much sense from a consumer and business perspective.

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Is Google working on the Pixel Watch Ultra?

It’s impossible to keep a Pixel phone secret. In recent models, Google has relied on teaser announcements to take control of the narrative. In some ways, the high-end smartwatch market is just starting to get interesting. Apple and Garmin have stopped it for a while, so more competition could give us more innovative devices, or at least ones with a higher quality bar to overcome. One day we might take things like multi-day battery life, accurate GPS, and consistent heart rate tracking for granted, even on budget wearables.