As a OnePlus Watch 3 user, I’m not upgrading to the Watch 4

The OnePlus Watch 4 just got off to a bit of a surprise, stepping in as the company’s latest smartwatch without much of a breakthrough. I’ve been using the OnePlus Watch 3 for over a year, and it’s still one of my top recommendations for anyone shopping in the Wear OS market. Between its excellent battery life, consistently smooth performance, and Apple-like rotating crown, it’s a handy device for everyday use.

Perhaps this is why the arrival of the Watch 4 is a little slow. As a OnePlus Watch 3 owner, I don’t see myself upgrading this time. Not enough reason to replace something that already works so well on my wrist.

Before getting into performance or battery life, the first disappointment of the OnePlus Watch 4 launch is that OnePlus again stuck to a single, oversized case. Like the previous model, it measures approximately 47 mm.

The lack of a smaller option was one of my biggest complaints about the OnePlus Watch 3, so I was really excited when the company introduced a 43mm version months later. However, since I already had the flagship, I didn’t bother getting another model. Instead, I assumed the fourth generation would eventually offer two sizes at launch.

I would take advantage of the opportunity to get the OnePlus Watch 4 in a smaller case, especially for workouts and sleep tracking, where the Watch 3 feels bulky on my wrist. The latest generation refines the hardware with a 13% lighter and 6% thinner titanium construction, plus I appreciate the more premium finish. Unfortunately, this change isn’t enough to justify a purchase, especially when the overall size and wearability remain mostly the same.

On the other hand, my favorite thing about the OnePlus Watch 3 is its great battery life. It’s one of the few smartwatches I can wear for days without having to think about charging, and that alone makes it easy to recommend over most Wear OS alternatives. On paper, the OnePlus Watch 4 specs are essentially unchanged. The battery capacity is in the same range, and its efficiency-boosting dual-engine setup is still doing the heavy lifting.

Real-world expectations are in line with this, with the same five-day endurance in Smart mode and 16 days in Power Saver listed on the spec sheet. These are great stats, but if I’ve already had one of the best battery experiences available on a smartwatch, there’s not much incentive to buy the same thing again.

The biggest drawback of the OnePlus Watch 4 is that it runs on the same Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 platform as the OnePlus Watch 3 (and even the Watch 2). There’s no move toward new wearable silicon, and more importantly, no leap to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, which is exactly where this generation should have gone.

The Snapdragon Wear Elite represents a meaningful step up for smartwatches, offering a more advanced, efficient architecture as well as significantly faster CPU and graphics performance. In practical terms, this means quick app launches and seamless interactions across the board. It also features a dedicated on-device AI engine capable of handling more advanced processing directly on the watch. For users, this means smarter voice features and more adaptive, contextual insights.

I have no real complaints about the OnePlus Watch 3’s performance, but it also feels a little limited. Moving to the Snapdragon Wear Elite will give the Watch 4 more headroom for future Wear OS features and a longer runway overall. The new platform is also designed to be more efficient, extending the Watch 3’s battery life longer than ever.

Likewise, the OnePlus Watch 4 still doesn’t offer LTE, which feels increasingly out of step with the rest of the smartwatch market. This is another way in which this model could have differed from its predecessor.

One area where the OnePlus Watch 4 leads the way is software. It launches with Wear OS 6 out of the box, which brings a more refined interface, smoother animations, and deeper integration with new Google features (like Gemini).

The problem is that the OnePlus Watch 3 is also expected to get the same update (although the timing is always a guess). Because both watches run on the same Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 platform, the day-to-day experience on both models is likely to feel very similar once the update arrives on the Watch 3. This makes it feel more like early access than an extraordinary upgrade.

The OnePlus Watch 4 isn’t short on features, but it doesn’t add anything meaningful new. Most of the upgrades are due to the content, minor improvements, and software that the OnePlus Watch 3 will eventually get. With the same chip, similar battery performance, and unchanged overall experience, the OnePlus Watch 4 gives me no reason to change what’s already on my wrist. If anything, it reinforces how well the Watch 3 still stands.

To be honest, the OnePlus Watch 4 seems like a great option for new buyers. This Wear OS watch offers one of the best battery experiences on Wear OS 6, and a design that feels more premium this time around. If you’re jumping into the ecosystem for the first time, it checks a lot of the right boxes.

But for OnePlus Watch 3 users who were expecting a big jump, that’s not the case.