As I’m sure you’ll be aware, back in early March Google announced a new Android platform designed specifically for smartphones and other wearable called (unsurprisingly) Android Wear. At the time, we knew that there would be at least two confirmed manufacturers embracing the new platform; LG and Motorola.
With the Google I/O developer conference starting next week, it’s thought that both LG and Motorola will fully detail their offerings – however, latest reports suggest they now might be joined on stage by the biggest player in the smartwatch market –Samsung.
The news comes via CNET whose sources suggest that Samsung are planning to launch its own Android Wear running smartwatch at the event. It’s thought that the watch will be based on the current Tizen-running smartphone, the Gear 2 Neo and will be powered by Samsung’s Exynos chipset, with the report also suggesting that there will also be a Qualcomm powered device too (although it’s not known which one will be shown off during the conference).
The market for Smartwatches along with other wearables is certainly expanding, a report by IDC back in April suggests that the end of this year around 19 million wearable devices would have been shipped worldwide, with the figure expected to increase to around 111.9 million wearables by 2018.
Also mentioned in the report is that each Google I/O attendee will be taking one of these Smartwatches home, which suggests to us that it’s quite far down the development line, perhaps meaning that the wearable will be on sale sooner rather than later.
Google I/O is expected to draw around 6000 people to San Francisco when it kicks off on June 25, and as ever, as soon as we get news from the event you can be assured we’ll let you know.