If you happen to break the Google Pixel Watch—whether or not the first-generation smartwatch from 2022 or the newest mannequin launched earlier this month—there isn’t a option to restore it by official channels. As an alternative, for those who efficiently make a guaranty declare, Google will ship you a substitute unit as an alternative of repairing your mannequin. This lack of repairability highlights the corporate’s inexperience within the smartwatch area. You possibly can take a damaged Apple Watch to Apple to restore cracked glass or exchange the battery, and the identical is true for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches.
There’s some excellent news although. At a Local weather Week NYC panel, centered on repairable expertise—hosted by Again Market and moderated by One5c—Nicole Azores, a supervisor of Authorities Affairs and Public Coverage at Google, mentioned on Tuesday that the corporate is pondering by the design of the Pixel Watch to make it extra repairable.
“Watches and wearables are nonetheless pretty nascent, and we’re pondering by how one can make this repairable,” Azores mentioned on the panel. “We’re eager about repairability on a broader scale, not simply on telephones and tablets, and we need to ensure that all of our merchandise finally turn into repairable. I believe watches being so new as a class, there are some design components that must be thought-about on how we make them repairable.”
When Can You Repair It?
Azores didn’t present any further data, together with a timeline. Client tech merchandise usually have a two- to three-year growth time. But it surely’s unclear whether or not this more-repairable framework will present up within the Pixel Watch 4 subsequent 12 months and even later than that. Google has caught with the identical design for its Pixel Watch over the previous three generations, although the Pixel Watch 3 launched in two sizes for the primary time.
That is the primary time the corporate has publicly commented on the irreparability of its smartwatch. Till now, Google representatives have usually mentioned the corporate has nothing to share when repairability issues are introduced up.
The Pixel Watch is a latecomer on the earth of smartwatches, however the software program it runs—Put on OS—has been round for a decade (previously referred to as Android Put on). Google managed the working system, as producers like Fossil and LG made the smartwatches themselves. That modified in 2022, when Google launched its very personal smartwatch, following its effort to jumpstart the waning platform alongside Samsung and Fitbit.
Google reportedly captured 8 p.c of the wearable band market share within the fourth quarter of 2022, the timeframe of when the primary Pixel Watch launched. Analysis group Canalys says the corporate shipped 880,000 Pixel Watches in that interval (the remainder are Fitbit units).
Simply the Beginning Level
Lack of repairability will doom many of those watches as digital waste to the landfill, which in accordance with a latest UN local weather report has already reached a disaster level. In 2022, there have been round 137 billion kilos of e-waste, and fewer than 1 / 4 was recycled. By 2030, e-waste is predicted to develop by 33 p.c, outpacing the recycling price.
There are ongoing efforts to implement repairability in tech. Final 12 months, the European Union handed rules requiring smartphones and tablets to have longer-lasting batteries or simpler strategies for customers to switch batteries utilizing frequent instruments starting in June 2025. Whereas it does not need to adjust to this laws, Apple’s new iPhone 16 debuted a brand new adhesive that makes the battery inside simpler to take away,
Whether or not it is within the Pixel Watch 4 or Pixel Watch 5, this design change is a win for customers. Now Google must concentrate on enhancing the repairability of Fitbit’s wearables. Regardless of the prevalence of its trackers, the corporate does not have any restore facilities to ship your gadget in for fixes.
