Google has confirmed how long the Pixel Watch 3 will get updates. And, as with previous generations, it’s not a standard-setting period.
The Google website commits to software updates for the Pixel Watch 3 up until October 2027, just over three years on from its on-sale date of September 10, 2024.
This is a far shorter time than the Pixel series phones will enjoy. The Pixel 9 family is guaranteed both new versions of Android and security updates up until August 2031, a stellar seven years on from the original launch.
Google’s use of language is careful on this one. The Pixel Watch 3 is “guaranteed” updates until 2027. It does not say support will definitely stop at that point.
The best indication of what this will really mean in practice comes in 2025. Google used the same three-year window promise for the previous two generations of Pixel Watch, and the clock runs out on the original Pixel Watch next year.
Does Apple fare any better?
In June 2024, three of Apple’s Watch lines were booted out of the regular software update cycle with WatchOS 11: the Watch Series 4, the Watch Series 5 and Watch SE (1st Generation).
This means the Series 4’s top-level support will end after six years, the Series 5 after five years and the Watch SE after four years.
They use the Apple S4 and S5 chipsets, which may be at the root of their discontinued support.
Much like Google, Apple’s Watch support has been less reassuring than that for its iPhones. Take the Apple Watch Series 3. While it received a solid five years of updates, it was on sale in the Apple Store just days before its support ended.
Buy at the wrong time and you could end up with closer to five days, not five years, of supposedly active support.
The watch did receive one further update, in June 2023, but it resolved a single security vulnerability. There’s much more to a standard Apple Watch update.
If you’re keen on the Pixel Watch 3, it’s available to order now and will arrive from September 10.
