Wear OS 7 is the ultimate insult to Pixel owners

Google made an avalanche of announcements during its Google I/O keynote this past week. Wear OS 7 was among the reveals, a pretty robust update to Google’s wearable operating system. Google claims users will experience a 10% increase in battery life and that features like Live Updates will be available. Wear OS 7 will also include a visual refresh, with new Tile designs.

However, one announced feature immediately made me angry. Google states that certain Gemini Intelligence features will be available on select future smartwatches. It’s a bizarre development, especially considering what Google listed as the requirements for devices to get Gemini Intelligence. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s turning into yet another insult for Pixel buyers who want their phones to get the latest and greatest features.

Google was already off my short list for Christmas cards this year after an announcement at the Android Show. I found it mind-numbing that only certain devices would receive Gemini Intelligence. Despite selling us on the enhanced AI capabilities of Tensor chipsets for years now, Google is only bringing a full slate of Gemini Intelligence to devices powered by the latest Tensor G5, plus select devices powered by the latest Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets.

It all seems arbitrary and a way for Google to gatekeep features to justify urging you to upgrade to newer phones. Still, if you were in the camp that Google couldn’t possibly find a way to bring Gemini Intelligence to these older phones, those last arguments were melted away by the company’s Wear OS 7 announcement at Google I/O.

The reveal that Gemini Intelligence is coming to Wear OS 7 in some form felt like a slap in the face. Sure, Google qualified its remarks, noting that only select future smartwatches would get those features. But I find it hard to believe that any hypothetical Pixel Watch 5 would be more powerful or more capable of Gemini Intelligence than the Pixel 9 Pro XL. It won’t have the same processing power, and it certainly won’t have anywhere near as much RAM, so what gives?

There are only a few solutions and workarounds, and whichever one Google implements, the company is going to look silly if it doesn’t then bring that solution to older phones. Even if you tell me it will be a watered-down Gemini Intelligence experience on smartwatches, it’s still better than nothing, and I’m sure older Pixel users would appreciate getting at least a few of the new features on their phones.

So either Google plans to offload some of the computing to the cloud or have the paired smartphone shoulder most of the burden — either way, that gives Google the ideal blueprint for bringing Gemini Intelligence to more smartphones.

This wouldn’t be the first time Google has brought exclusive features to devices that didn’t qualify initially. The base Pixel 8 wasn’t supposed to get Gemini Nano because it only had 8GB of RAM. Google came up with a workaround; it just stated that the results wouldn’t be as good. I’m willing to make that trade, but the question is about speed, not performance.

Google wants a way to differentiate its products. It’s a problem facing almost every Android manufacturer. The camera wars are pretty much over. Sure, you have overseas brands like vivo and OPPO really pushing the envelope with attachable lenses and other features, but it’s pretty difficult to buy even a midrange phone with an objectively bad camera system in 2026. If companies are going to get me to upgrade and pay more, there has to be another way to demonstrate meaningful progress.

Unfortunately, that’s where AI is going to take over. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of previous buyers. If Google wants to claim that more AI computing can be handled on a device because of the Tensor G5, I’m willing to buy that. On-device results will be faster and more secure, which is what would sell me on upgrading.

But let me make that choice. I want the option to accept slightly slower results in the cloud, and if that is unbearable, I will upgrade. It’s frustrating because it feels within Google’s reach, but due to marketing, that solution won’t be available at first.

I’ve had a little pushback in recent days from Pixel owners who claim they don’t even care. They haven’t used many of Google’s AI products yet, and they don’t plan on it anytime soon. I understand the argument, especially as someone who has been frustrated by AI so far. The promised reality isn’t here, and if my early testing of Daily Brief is any indication, Google has work to do on its latest crop of releases.

However, I’m more concerned about the mindset. Google backtracked on Gemini Nano for the Pixel 8, in part due to the furious backlash the company received at the time. Unless people speak up, Google has zero incentive to find workarounds. I understand Google wants to sell more Pixels, but that’s not the way to go about it.