A OnePlus smartwatch is finally coming in 2021

OnePlus will finally be making a smartwatch in 2021, CEO Pete Lau has announced on Twitter, marking the first foray into wearable devices for the smartphone company. There’s not many details yet on the upcoming device, including what smartwatch OS it’ll run, a price, or even a firm release date — Lau only notes that it’ll be “released early next year.”

The idea of a OnePlus smartwatch isn’t a new one; the company had reportedly designed a Wear OS (then still called Android Wear) smartwatch a few years ago. OnePlus ultimately nixed that product, though” “We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it,” Lau said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “We have to be focused.”

OnePlus has started to branch out beyond phones in recent years, though: in addition to its high-end smartphone lineup each year, the company now makes an array of headphones, a budget line of Nord phones, and even smart TVs.

The launch of a OnePlus smartwatch in 2021 — the first from the company — also comes hot on the heels of the release of the Oppo Watch earlier this year, which was similar the first-ever smartwatch that Oppo had made. Given that there’s been no shortage of similarities in the past between Oppo and OnePlus products (the two companies share an owner, the massive conglomerate BBK Electronics), it’s possible that the upcoming OnePlus watch may take some cues from the existing Oppo Watch.

:story: The Verge