Having launched the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra back in October 2021, it's fair to say that it's been a while since Mobvoi last launched a Wear OS smartwatch. And despite having said that it was working on a new TicWatch powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset back in July 2022, no new devices are available just yet although the TicWatch Pro 5 has passed through the FCC, so that's something to keep an eye out for. But what of the TicWatch 3 Pro Ultra, wasn't a Wear OS 3 update promised to roll out sometime during the second half of 2022?
That prediction was made by Google and as we all know, it didn't come to pass. It's not like Mobvoi is purposely dragging its feet with the Wear OS 3 update for the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra, however, the brand has posted an explanation for the wait on its Twitter account as seen below:
As you can see, Mobvoi's plans to update the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra, TicWatch Pro 3, and TicWatch E3 have been stymied by the complexity of getting Wear OS 3 to function properly with its proprietary dual-system architecture.
It would seem that there's a bit of blame to go around to Mobvoi, Google, and Qualcomm. Google because it seemingly left out Mobvoi, Qualcomm, and other brands from contributing to the unification of Wear OS and Samsung's Tizen Watch OS platforms, which left them in the dark. Qualcomm because of its unwillingness (at times) to expend resources on Wear OS. And Mobvoi itself, because we are now heading towards it being two years since the launch of Wear OS 3, with no firm date on when an update might roll out.
The Good News
Yup, there is some good news because Mobvoi has stated that it will soon be ‘conducting an extensive closed beta' test for the update. There's no timeframe for when the beta program might begin but Mobvoi does ask interested parties to ‘stay tuned' for upcoming announcements.
