Pixel Watch 4 leaks suggest Google is doubling down on battery again

Ever since Google debuted the original Pixel Watch in 2022, improving battery life has been a major focus of subsequent iterations of the smartwatch. Based on new leaks of the upcoming Pixel Watch 4, it looks like that might be the case again.

Renders published by 91mobiles from leaker OnLeaks show a slightly thicker watch with what appear to be two small buttons on either side of the speaker. (What those buttons do is a mystery.) Purportedly, the Watch 4 will be 14.3mm thick compared to 12.3mm. There are several reasons why a smartwatch can get thicker, but it tends to mean a bigger battery or extra components. Meanwhile, the sensor array no longer shows the four charging pins that were added with the Pixel Watch 2. That would hint that perhaps Google has found out a way to enable faster charging without them. Lastly, 91mobiles reports that the Pixel Watch 4 should still come in two sizes.

The thicker body and lack of charging pins could indicate battery life still weighs heavily on Google’s mind. Dismal battery life was the most annoying thing about the original Pixel Watch, to the point where the company has since worked to rectify it with the Pixel Watch 2 and 3. Adding charging pins angered some Pixel Watch fans, but the main reason was to enable a more secure connection and facilitate faster charging. The problem with pins, besides adding a new proprietary charger, is that they wear down over time.

WearOS 4 and 5 also focused on ways to be more power-efficient. The result is that you can now reliably expect Pixel Watches to last a whole day, but they still trail behind the multiday battery life achieved by rival smartwatches like the OnePlus Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

We can’t draw any firm conclusions from these leaks. Lots of things can change before a final product launches, and hardware renders don’t tell us anything about what’s inside the device or what the focus of WearOS 6 will be. We could find out more next month at Google I/O.