Huawei's next smartwatch is a blatant Apple Watch ripoff at a fraction of the price [U]

Huawei this week revealed its super interesting new flagship smartphone, but around the corner still is the new “Watch Fit 3,” which does nothing to hide the fact that it’s a clear clone of the Apple Watch.

Smartwatch designs vary greatly between manufacturers, especially in the world of Wear OS, but Huawei’s next smartwatch clearly takes its inspiration from the market leader.

Images of the Huawei Watch Fit 3 were shared by WinFuture’s Roland Quandt on Twitter/X today ahead of the smartwatch’s release. The watch has a square-ish shape with thin bezels, rounded corners, and two buttons along the right side – one rotating crown and one physical button. It also has a band that connects without traditional lugs.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because those are all of the design characteristics of the Apple Watch, and the actual images look even closer to Apple’s design too.

Whenever it debuts, though, the Huawei Watch Fit 3 will likely be a shell of the Apple Watch in terms of software capabilities (or even a modern Wear OS watch, for that matter).

Update 4/30: In a follow-up leak, WinFuture has shared more images and details around the Huawei Fit 3. The additional images show that the watch is even more of an Apple Watch clone than originally thought, with the same button design on the right side, and even nearly the same placement for the speaker on the left side.

The Huawei Watch Fit 3, according to a leaked retail listing, has a 1.82-inch AMOLED display at 480×480 resolution, which is about the same as the Apple Watch both in terms of size and resolution. The device has a mere 4GB of storage, which probably enough given it likely won’t have a full app store. Sensors on the watch can apparently handle heart rate, sleep, SpO2, menstrual cycle tracking, and more. Battery life is claimed to hit around 10 days, and the whole watch is water resistant up to 5ATM.

Pricing, according to this report, will be just €159. That’s well below even the cheapest Apple Watch SE, which currently sells for €279 in Europe.

Huawei’s “Watch Fit” line is more focused on fitness tracking than it is on smartwatch tasks. It runs a lightweight version of HarmonyOS with support for some apps, fitness and sleep tracking, and delivering notifications and calls from your phone. Huawei Watch Fit 2 is said to last up to 10 days on a charge.

It’s unclear when Watch Fit 3 will make its debut, but it likely won’t be sold in the US market officially.

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