Google revealed yesterday that it started rolling out a major replace that may attain the complete lineup for the Pixel Watch this month. Whereas the announcement was met with a lot pleasure for Pixel Watch house owners, notably those who have the older fashions, there was one line in that submit that was of specific curiosity — the reveal that the subsequent Pixel Watch replace will not be launched till March 2025. This modification marks a departure from the standard month-to-month updates that Pixel Watch customers have turn into accustomed to.
Historically, Pixel Watch updates have been pretty frequent, typically coinciding with Pixel telephone updates. These updates primarily targeted on safety patches, with new options usually being rolled out by means of the Play Retailer. Nevertheless, Google’s November 2024 replace for all three Pixel Watch generations included an announcement of an extended hole between updates.
This shift to a much less frequent replace schedule may very well be attributed to a need to optimize engineering sources and ship extra substantial updates on a quarterly foundation. Whereas this may occasionally imply fewer updates general, it might doubtlessly result in extra polished and feature-rich releases in the long term.
The November 2024 replace introduced some notable modifications to the Pixel Watch lineup. Most significantly, it introduced Put on OS 5 to the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2, lastly giving these customers the brand new options and up to date interface loved by Pixel Watch 3 house owners. The replace additionally included the most recent safety patches for all three generations of Pixel Watch.
Pixel Watch 3 in its 41mm and 45mm variants. | Picture credit score — PhoneArena
Apparently, this transfer in the direction of much less frequent updates aligns with a current change in Google’s method to Android releases. Traditionally, Android has seen main model updates yearly, with smaller updates sprinkled all year long. Nevertheless, there’s been a rising development in the direction of bigger, much less frequent Android updates, specializing in important characteristic additions and platform enhancements.
The subsequent main replace for the Pixel Watch is anticipated to align with a Function Drop in March 2025. Within the meantime, customers can nonetheless anticipate app-level updates by means of the December Pixel Drop.
As a Pixel Watch person, I am a bit of dissatisfied by the information of much less frequent updates. I’ve at all times appreciated the common safety patches and occasional new options. Nevertheless, I additionally perceive the potential advantages of specializing in bigger, extra polished updates. I am hopeful that this alteration will result in a good higher person expertise sooner or later.