Google’s latest Pixel Watch 3 brings minimal upgrades over the older Watch 2. Let’s find out if you should upgrade to the latest gen over last year’s model.
Google just announced the third generation of Wear OS-powered devices since its return to the smartwatch domain. We say devices because this time around, there are two variants — a standard 41mm model and a larger 45mm version.
Apart from the additional bigger size option, the Pixel Watch 3 looks nearly identical to last year’s Pixel Watch 2. So, if you bought the latter in 2023, does upgrading make sense? Or, if you’ve been eyeing the Pixel Watch, you could get a discounted price on the previous generation, so should you buy the Pixel Watch 2 instead?
These are two very important questions. Let us answer them for you in the comparison below. Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch 2: specsGoogle Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch 2: design and display
The Google Pixel Watch 3 comes in a circular outer body without many visible changes from last year’s model. The addition of a bigger 45mm is perhaps the biggest change in hardware we see this year. Despite the wider landscape, the 45mm is as thick as the smaller 41mm variant, which remains largely unchanged from last year. We found that the underside of the Pixel Watch 3 does pick up a lot of scratches very easily, so it’s worth keeping this in mind.
The watch has a rotating crown/button combo placed almost flush with the body, which is made of 100% recycled aluminum, and comes in clear silver, champagne gold, or matte black finishes paired to the same band colors last year — except for a new “Rose Quartz” that is limited to the smaller 41mm variant. The Bay Blue band option will no longer be an option in the default set but you can purchase other blue bands — besides chains, metal links, fabrics, and a whole range of options — separately.
While the design lacks any radical changes over the previous generation, the display gets a major upgrade. Both the 41mm and the 45mm models get a newer variant of Google’s “Actua” displays with a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. That’s twice as bright as the 1,000-nit display on the Pixel Watch 2. In addition to getting brighter, the display can also get as low as 1 nit on the always-on display (AOD), so it doesn’t scorch your eyes in the dark.
The new display also gets variable refresh rate that reaches as low as 1Hz when needed. The primary objective here is to reduce battery consumption, especially with an AOD.
In addition, the displays feature slimmer bezels. Google says the 41mm’s display is now 10% bigger than last year despite any changes to the overall dimensions. Irrespective of their sizes, both displays get the same level of sharpness at 320 ppi (pixels per inch), so you shouldn’t have any trouble reading text, though interacting with the watch, and especially typing on a full-sized keyboard, is likely to be better on the 45mm variant. The bigger variant’s screen is 40% larger than that of the previous models, and this makes for a much better viewing experience, including seeing more information in notifications.Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch 2: hardware
Other than the display, there aren’t any noticeable changes to the hardware on the Pixel Watch 3. Google doesn’t explicitly list any upgrades to the set of sensors on the Pixel Watch 3 over the last generation, and we can take this silence as a sign of no reasonable upgrades.
