Seeing how OnePlus made such a big deal about its previous generation smartwatch, you could be forgiven for not realising there was a new version. The OnePlus Watch 4 appeared on a bunch of the firm’s regional websites at the end of April, but without official word of a UK or US launch. Sister brand Oppo instead scooped all the attention with this, the Watch X3.
That the Wear OS smartwatch would be getting a wide release isn’t a huge shock (Oppo did sell the last-gen Watch X2 in the West officially, after all. It’s more that this could be the only one of the pair to do so – hinting that long-time industry whispers of OnePlus wrapping up its US and European operations could indeed be accurate.
On one hand that would be a massive blow, given the OnePlus Watch 3 remains my favourite Wear OS smartwatch. But a quick look at the spec sheet suggests the Oppo alternative is essentially identical – something I can confirm after having one on my wrist for the last week or two. That poses the question: does what name appears on the box really matter all that much to everyday customers?
Styling is a mirror image
Playing spot the difference with the Oppo Watch X3 and its OnePlus sibling feels like a fruitless exercise. Even the £329 starting price in the UK is a mere £10 more than the OnePlus Watch 3 cost at launch. While I was sent the Misty Titanium version for testing, only the Obsidian Black model is coming here officially, and it’s identical to the black OnePlus Watch 4. I prefer the circular bezel to my watch’s dodecagon anyway.
Both have made the swap from stainless steel casings to titanium ones that are marginally lighter and thinner, but not so much I could tell with the Watch X3 on one wrist and the OnePlus Watch 3 on the other. The undersides are still made from plastic and the watch face still protected by sapphire glass. The whole lot has stayed box-fresh since I started testing, with no permanent scuffs or scrapes. IP protection has stepped up to IP69, while water resistance remains at 5ATM – or more than enough for open water swimming.
There’s just one 47mm size option, despite both firms each selling smaller variants of their previous-generation watches. That does mean wrist presence is unchanged, as the OLED watch face is still a sizeable 1.5in. It’s plenty sharp, colourful and has epic contrast. A 3000 nit peak brightness is ample for daytime visibility, even in bright sunshine.
It’s unclear if the Obsidian Black watch get’s my model’s dual link strap – it’s not shown in Oppo’s official images. That would be a shame, as I found the extra flexibility it brought upped comfort levels compared to the OnePlus Watch 3’s single piece rubber band. It uses standard 22mm lugs and has quick releases, so can be swapped out easily for a third-party alternative.
Basically no annual power hike
In my week of testing, the Watch X3 has performed almost identically to the year-old OnePlus Watch 3. And why wouldn’t it? The hardware is pretty much unchanged, with a Snapdragon Wear W5 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The second low-power chipset that steps in to prolong battery life when you’re not directly interacting with the watch also makes an appearance.
Qualcomm only released the newer Snapdragon Wear Elite in March 2026, so it’s not too surprising to see Oppo sticking with last year’s silicon. The Watch X3’s everyday responsiveness left me no reason to grumble – but waiting a little longer and launching with the latest chipset might’ve also brought longer-term software support, and potentially greater energy savings. It would’ve given owners of older models more of a reason to upgrade too.
You could argue the Watch X3 shipping with Wear OS 6 is reason enough: it more tightly integrates Google’s Gemini voice assistant throughout the OS, which also animates more smoothly and is a little bit easier on the eye. But those are all pretty minor. Health and fitness tracking are still handled by Oppo’s dedicated apps, while setup and syncing is done through the OHealth smartphone app rather than the generic Wear OS one. Given the old model is a hardware match, you should expect it to get an update at some point that’ll bring it basically up to par.
Keeps you fit all week
Sticking so closely to the OnePlus Watch 3 was a good move in one sense; it earned a five star score for its consistent health tracking and excellent battery life for a Wear OS wearable. The Oppo Watch X3 essentially does that as well, courtesy of a familiar sensor suite that includes an accelerometer, heart rate sensor, pulse oximeter and wrist temperature sensor that can measure your vascular health, track blood oxygen levels and perform ECG scans. A 60 second health check-in does the lot in one go, which is convenient.
The dual-frequency GPS chip gave accurate positioning, even in urban areas with taller buildings and parks with lots of tree cover. There’s no shortage of dedicated sports modes and the Ohealth app makes exporting sessions to other services like Strava a breeze.
Crucially, battery life remains unchanged. Oppo’s claimed 16 days per charge in its lowest power mode foregoes a lot of the smart features, but I routinely saw five with a varied mix of exercise, location tracking, phone notifications and music streaming. That’s more than twice as much as the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic or largest Google Pixel Watch 4 can manage. Charging on the included magnetic cradle isn’t the speediest, but I could refuel enough for another two days of wear in the hour between getting into bed and turning the lights out.
The same but different – and a sign of things to come
For as long as the OnePlus Watch 3 can still be found on sale – and for considerably less than the Watch X3 will cost at launch – it’s hard to see why anyone would head straight for the Oppo. Sure, it’s a great smartwatch that runs the newest software and has a more premium case, but the price difference is vast given so little has changed under the hood. Whether there’s an Oppo or a OnePlus logo on the underside is neither here nor there when the user experience is virtually identical. The same is true in regions where the Watch X2 is sold.
Eventually that stock will run dry, of course, at which point the Watch X3 might become my new go-to Wear OS smartwatch. But only because some bean-counters back at Oppo HQ have seemingly decided OnePlus’ time in the West should come to an end.
Read the full article here
