Huawei Watch 3 release date rumours: New leak suggests Huawei Watch 3 is coming soon

Chinese company Huawei is among the biggest manufacturers of Android smartwatches, and its Watch 2 remains one of our favourite Wear OS wearables. Despite the uninspiring name it’s probably the finest Android smartwatch on the market, and it finally looks like an upgrade could be in the offing. This isn’t just a bland, iterative specification bump, however. Rumours surrounding the forthcoming Watch 3 have already started to circulate, and everything is pointing to a radical new redesign. 

The most recent piece of information we’ve gleaned about the – potential – Huawei Watch 3 is a regulation filing picked up by GadgetsandWearables. The document comes from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and reveals that four new Huawei smartwatches have got certification from the body. 

One big giveaway is that one of the devices is filed under codename CSN-BX9. Back in the day, the Huawei Watch 2 was also dubbed BX9 before receiving its commercial title, suggesting we may be about to witness the next-gen iteration of Huawei’s Wear OS smartwatch. 

As for the Huawei Watch 2, it garnered a lot of favourable coverage. We gave it four stars in our full-length review, awarding it the title of best Wear OS smartwatch and lauding its long battery life, myriad sensors and sleek face. So it wouldn’t come as an enormous surprise if Huawei wanted to revive the line for its next-gen smartwatch.

Going by the patents that have been unearthed so far, however, several innovations could be on the cards. In-depth information regarding the Watch 3 is still in short supply, but despite the uncertainty surrounding the Watch 3 we’ve trawled the internet to compile all the information, leaks and rumours we can find.

We’ll be updating this page as and when more information emerges, so be sure to check back in to see what’s in store for the Huawei Watch 3.

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Huawei Watch 3 release date: When will it come out?

In February 2017, Huawei unveiled its Watch 2 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) – the world’s largest exhibition for the phone industry. The smartwatch was released just over a month later in April.

This year’s MWC passed without a new Huawei smartwatch announcement, and a Watch 3 didn’t accompany March’s P20 smartphone release either, but MWC 2019 is still a possibility. However, it’s also possible that it will be unveiled at IFA 2018 in Berlin. The tech trade show runs from 31 August-5 September, so keep an eye out for it there.

Are there any strong reasons why Huawei wouldn’t want to launch the Watch 3 yet? A few, yes. For one thing, the Watch 2 is still selling and Android’s Wear OS – which was utilised in that smartwatch – is still the latest version of the Android Wear software available. Add in the May release of the Watch 2 2018 – a version of the Watch 2 featuring minor upgrades – and Huawei may yet be tempted to keep the Watch 3 under wraps for now.

Huawei Watch 3 price: How much will it cost?

Once again, we can look at Huawei’s earlier smartwatch offerings in order to get a sense of what the Watch 3 might cost. When it was first released, the Watch 2 was sold at £329. Given that the Watch 3 will be another high-end device, we can expect a similar price point for the Chinese company’s next smartwatch.

Huawei Watch 3 design and features: What will it look like and do?

Currently we only have a handful of patents filed by Huawei to go on at this point. The latest of these emerged in June, spotted by Dutch website LetsGoDigital. The patent shows a graphic showing Bluetooth earphones integrated either in two containers on each side of the body, or in containers at the bottom of the strap.

Image: Huawei / LetsGoDigital

It’s a rather far-fetched addition, so it’ll be interesting to see whether such an unusual feature makes it to the final device. Being able to stash your Bluetooth earbuds in your watch is a cool space-saving measure, but then that begs several questions: Are they charged by the device’s internal battery? Is the watch vastly chunkier as a result? 

Another patent that was brought to light in February, again by LetsGoDigital, is a sci-fi-esque gesture input method that involves the watch’s sensors scanning around itself in order to pick up hand gestures. For instance, it would be possible to write on the back of your watch-wearing hand and have the gesture picked up and used by the smartphone, possibly with your hand or fingers acting like a PC mouse.

Image: Huawei / LetsGoDigital

Meanwhile, in January the same website found another patent, this time showing touch-sensitive bezels divided into eight sections. Each section could be tapped in order to perform a function, while combination gestures are also included in the patent graphic, meaning that more complicated functions could also be performed.

While the Samsung Gear S3 also has a touch-sensitive bezel – rotating rather than divided into sections, though – this Watch 3 bezel look potentially more useful and maybe even easier to use.

Image: Huawei / LetsGoDigital

So three patents are what we have to go on so far, on a smartwatch that we’re not sure will be announced any time soon. It’s worth remembering, though, that patents are no guarantee that these features will be available on the final Watch 3, whenever it comes out. Given how great the Watch 2 was, though, we have seriously high hopes for the Watch 3.