OnePlus steals Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Thunder with Watch 2R teaser

OnePlus took aim at Samsung by teasing its upcoming lineup of devices just a day before Samsung’s Unpacked event.

The Watch 2R is OnePlus’ next smartwatch, with a full announcement scheduled for July 16.

Why is OnePlus revealing exactly what it’s going to reveal a week in advance? That’s how the online tech hype cycle works these days, at least in some companies.

The first images of the OnePlus Watch 2R alone give an idea of ​​what to expect. But we also expect it to be similar, if not identical, to a watch announced for the Chinese market in June.

The standard OnePlus Watch 2 was only released in February for Western audiences, and this new watch isn’t a full generational upgrade of that model.

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One change is obvious: the Watch 2’s unusual asymmetrical case has been replaced by a more ordinary round case.

The Watch 2R is also expected to be slightly cheaper than the OnePlus Watch 2, which currently sells for $299.

While the recent Chinese version of the mid-gen update has the same basic specifications, it features an aluminum case instead of the stainless steel one that will also be present on the Watch2R. There was also no mention of the sapphire crystal used for the display protection of the standard Watch 2.

This is an obvious way to reduce the cost of the watch, by using slightly cheaper materials.

One of the main changes coming to the Chinese version is support for an eSIM, although it’s not yet clear if this will also come to the OnePlus Watch 2R.

The company has used the “R” branding to denote more affordable models, like the OnePlus 12R.

It costs $499, compared to $799 for the standard OnePlus 12. However, these two phones were announced at the same time, not six months apart.

This could prove to be a problem for the OnePlus Watch 2, as price erosion over time at online retailers could eat into the savings the OnePlus Watch 2R seeks to offer.

The OnePlus Watch 2 is a Wear OS watch with 32GB of storage and the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chipset. The latter are expected to return in the Watch 2R, while OnePlus has confirmed that the new watch will have 100 hours of battery life and dual-frequency GPS.

OnePlus will announce the Watch 2R on July 16 at a launch event in Milan, alongside the Nord 3 phone, Pad 2 tablet, and Nord Buds 3 Pro earbuds.