Huawei is not giving up on smartwatches - and could be launching a new device in the form of the Huawei Watch GT within weeks.

Speaking in an interview session at the IFA tech trade show in Berlin, Huawei CEO Richard Yu responded to a question about whether the company was still interested in smartwatches saying, "Yes, but it needs more innovation, and we are working on that.”

Essential reading: Best Wear watches to buy now



Yu added, “We want to make bigger improvements and make the experience much better than today. That’s my target. We want to make the smartwatch more useful, more intimate, more functional, and with much longer battery life.”

That battery life problem is something that all smartwatch makers are trying to solve with most Wear watches currently promising a maximum of two days battery. Yu said that he hoped to have a smartwatch that is able to run for a week. Simply sticking in a bigger battery is not a solution here as it would significantly impact on the size of the smartwatch.

So it's down to the development of the tech and software needed to run smartwatches sapping less power to boost that performance. Google has been busy making improvements to its smartwatch platform in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Qualcomm, who provides the chip tech for all Wear watches is preparing to launch its next generation smartwatch chip on 10 September. It's hoped the new setup will improve a number of things including smartwatch battery life.

While it's disappointing that Huawei is unlikely to launch a new smartwatch in the near future, it's good to hear it isn't simply just going to throw out something that doesn't really build on its previous watches. Hopefully it won't keep us waiting too long.

Source: Digital Trends



