Huawei first unveiled its Huawei Watch back in early March at Mobile World Congress.
Almost six months later, it has yet to hit the market although recent signs point to an immiment release finally. While pricing has yet to be announced, rumours suggested that Huawei would offer a number of variants with a range of price points. Amazon pre-order pages today appeared briefly to confirm this with four models being offered with pricing ranging from US$349.99 up to US$799.99.
The four Huawei Watch models listed on Amazon were:
- Stainless Steel / Black leather strap: $349.99
- Black Stainless Steel / Black bracelet: $449.99
- Gold-plated / Brown leather strap: $699.99
- Gold-plated / Gold-plated bracelet: $799.99
If these prices are accurate, they do confirm early rumours that the Huawei Watch would command a premium price. These may not be as high as US$1,000 but the most expensive model certainly comes close.
The Amazon listing also claims that the Huawei Watch will be compatible with both Android 4.3+ and iOS 8.2+. As Android Wear is not currently compatible with iOS, it is either a mistake or Huawei has just revealed a major addition coming to Android Wear in a future update. We know that Google has been looking to add iOS compatibility to its wearables OS for a while now.
Amazon also revealed that the Huawei Watch will be available starting on September 2nd. Unfortunately, the pages have since been updated and availability is now listed as “Currently unavailable. We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.”
Huawei is holding an IFA 2015 press event on September 2nd. Based on this image which briefly appeared on Twitter, it appears that the Huawei Watch is on the agenda along with new smartphones. Let’s hope that Huawei is finally ready to announce availability and pricing.
Update: Huawei has issued a statment to deny that the Huawei Watch will be compatible with iOS: “Earlier today, incorrect information about the upcoming launch of the Huawei Watch was published on a partner website. We have nothing to announce at this time. Stay tuned for more details next week.”