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Huawei, LG, Motorola Pause Smartwatch Efforts, Will Not Release New Models in 2016

Huawei, LG, Motorola Pause Smartwatch Efforts, Will Not Release New Models in 2016

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 15 September 2016 12:29 IST

Highlights

LG says that it wants to wait and see what sticks
Motorola doesn't want to enlarge the dial to pack more components
Huawei wants smartwach tech to evolve first

Huawei, LG, and Motorola are not going to release new smartwatches in the latter part of this year. All three companies have confirmed that they do not intend to have any announcements regarding new smartwatches in 2016.

While Asus launched the ZenWatch 3 at IFA 2016, other companies remained conspicuously mum when it came to the wearables category. CNET reports that the three companies are calling for a timeout, in the wake of the release of Apple Watch Series 2 and the upcoming Samsung Gear S3. While LG released the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE smartwatch in March, Huawei and Motorola refrained from coming out with any new product at all this year.

All three companies had announced smartwatches at IFA 2015, but that wasn't the case this year. The report states that the companies are looking to observe and let the smartwatch industry grow a little before it can achieve building a product capable of competing well in the market. For now, Apple leads the market share in smartwatches, but that also saw a 55 percent drop in the second quarter, according to IDC.

Samsung, this year, made an even bulkier Gear S3 smartwatch to accommodate the LTE radio and enabling standalone capabilities. This would make many potential customers who look for a sleek smartwatch frown at the product. This is also one of the reasons why Motorola steered clear of releasing a successor.

"One of the things we see in the future is connected [cellular] watches, and our opinion is that while it's technically feasible, the trade-offs on the product itself means we're not quite ready yet," a spokeswoman from Motorola told the publication.

LG spokesman Ken Hong told Cnet, "We want to see what sticks." The company looks to see more demand in the market, and see if smartwatches have the potential to become a must-have device.

Huawei, on the other hand, wants to wait it out till the tech evolves to make a sleek product that could salivate customers. It is waiting for components to shrink, and processors to become faster before releasing a successor to the Huawei Watch.

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