Trump Backs Nexstar–Tegna Merger Amid Shifting U.S. Media Landscape 
Jensen Huang Urges Taiwan Suppliers to Boost AI Chip Production Amid Surging Demand 
SpaceX Seeks FCC Approval for Massive Solar-Powered Satellite Network to Support AI Data Centers 
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says AI Investment Boom Is Just Beginning as NVDA Shares Surge 
Nvidia, ByteDance, and the U.S.-China AI Chip Standoff Over H200 Exports 
Global PC Makers Eye Chinese Memory Chip Suppliers Amid Ongoing Supply Crunch 
TSMC Eyes 3nm Chip Production in Japan with $17 Billion Kumamoto Investment 
Anthropic Eyes $350 Billion Valuation as AI Funding and Share Sale Accelerate 
Alphabet’s Massive AI Spending Surge Signals Confidence in Google’s Growth Engine 
Elon Musk’s Empire: SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI Merger Talks Spark Investor Debate 
SoftBank Shares Slide After Arm Earnings Miss Fuels Tech Stock Sell-Off 
Hims & Hers Halts Compounded Semaglutide Pill After FDA Warning 
Missouri Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Starbucks’ Diversity and Inclusion Policies 
Once Upon a Farm Raises Nearly $198 Million in IPO, Valued at Over $724 Million 
Amazon Stock Rebounds After Earnings as $200B Capex Plan Sparks AI Spending Debate 
Google confirmed that the Wear OS would receive the same annual update treatment the Android operating system gets following the unveiling of the Pixel Watch last week. It means Google’s first in-house smartwatch will receive at least three versions of the Wear OS in the years to come.
The Wear OS went through somewhat of a rebirth last year. Apart from changing its name from Android Wear, Google also announced its partnership with Samsung to co-develop Wear OS as a “unified platform.” Now that Google has brought the Pixel Watch to the market, the company confirmed Wear OS would receive regular updates every year.
“Our goal is, from a platform perspective, for us to release a new version of Wear generally every year in a similar fashion to mobile, partly because we need to support mobile," Wear OS product management director Björn Kilburn told Wired. “If new functionalities added in Android are critical for watches and hearables, then we've got to find a way to get it into the watch.” Aside from a new version launching annually, Wear OS will also receive updates every quarter to add “new experiences” to the platform.
How Google will name the annual version of Wear OS is still unclear. New versions of Android used to launch with dessert-themed names until Google switched to a simpler numbering scheme in 2019, and it remains to be seen if the same approach will be used for Wear OS.
Similar to Android, the availability of over-the-air updates for new versions of Wear OS will also depend on every manufacturer starting in Wear OS 3. This means some smartwatch brands (like the Pixel Watch) will likely receive new versions and the latest updates earlier than others.
Shortly after the Pixel Watch launched, Google published a support page confirming that the smartwatch would receive at least three years of software updates. It means users can expect to get the new versions of Wear OS through October 2025.
Google is now accepting Pixel Watch pre-orders and has confirmed the device will ship to nine countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Its Bluetooth/Wi-Fi variant is available starting at $349, while its LTE version costs $399.
