OnePlus Watch 3 leak leaves hope for a rotating crown

A new OnePlus Watch is expected to arrive in the coming months, and according to a new leak, the “OnePlus Watch 3” will bring the rotating crown the last one didn’t. Maybe.

The OnePlus Watch 2 was a huge upgrade over what came before it, largely because OnePlus actually delivered what people wanted in a full-featured Wear OS smartwatch with excellent battery life. According to a leak from SmartPrix, the OnePlus Watch 3 will build on that formula.

Details of the OnePlus Watch 3 from this report include that the design will be largely unchanged, as shown in a couple of recreated images of a prototype of the device. Ironically, the mid-cycle OnePlus Watch 2R has less in common with the Watch 2 than the Watch 3 does, at least based on these renders. The biggest change on OnePlus Watch 3 is said to be the addition of a rotating digital crown. The crown on the OnePlus Watch 2 did spin, but it didn’t do anything in the UI, to everyone’s disappointment. So, hopefully, this is truly fixed in the new generation.

Other changes to OnePlus Watch 3 are said to include an improved heart rate sensor with ECG support and, potentially, LTE support.

The new version is also said to include Wear OS 5 (mistyped as “Watch OS 5” in the report), implying that Watch 2 and 2R will also be getting that update in time. Specs are nearly identical, with Snapdragon W5 Gen 1, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage, plus the ability to use an RTOS alongside Wear OS for improved battery life. This report mentions the battery as “500+ mAh,” while previous leaks claim it could be significantly larger than that.

OnePlus Watch 3 is said to launch in Q1 2025, but it’s unclear when. The next major launch is January 7 for the OnePlus 13 series, but there’s been no hint that a smartwatch would be accompanying those new smartphones.