Google’s Wear OS platform has supported iOS from the beginning, but future support for Apple’s platform was called into question with the debut of Wear OS 3. We now have an answer.
The Galaxy Watch 4 is not compatible with iOS
Going back to last August, the Galaxy Watch 4 was the first smartwatch with Wear OS 3 on board. And that has continued to this day.
The debut of the Galaxy Watch 4 effectively marked a new era for Wear OS, and was one that immediately lacked support for the iPhone. Rather, Samsung only supported Android phones, with the best support, of course, reserved for their Galaxy devices.
Samsung points out the compatibility requirements for the Galaxy Watch 4:
Compatible with Android 6.0 or higher, RAM 1.5 GB or higher.
Samsung explicitly confirmed that iOS support was not available on the Wear OS 3-based smartwatch, but never explained why. Since older Tizen smartwatches are compatible with iOS devices, Wear OS 3 was supposed to be the reason Samsung stopped supporting the iPhone.
To this theory was added the Pixel Watch, which was announced in May, and has compatibility notes that only describe the smartwatch that runs on Android smartphones.
But, at least in this case, there are still many things we do not know.
Wear OS 3 on the Montblanc Summit 3 will be compatible with iPhone
But it turns out that this doesn’t seem to be a limitation of the Wear OS 3 platform.
Speaking to Wareable, Qualcomm has confirmed that the next Montblanc Summit 3, which is the first non-Samsung smartwatch to use Wear OS 3, will be compatible with the iPhone.
This is an important detail for Wear OS in the future, as the platform has long focused its limited success on fashion brands such as Montblanc, Tag Heuer and the various brands of Fossil Group.
For these particular partners, iPhone support is very important. While the Apple Watch is the benchmark smartwatch for most iPhone owners, Wear OS is the only fully-formed smartwatch platform that allows, if not encourages, the round designs that they are more common in these trendy smart watches.
The Montblanc Summit 3 will go on sale in July for $ 1,290 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chip under the hood.
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