Although Google is careful in not stating that a 4100 processor guarantees the update to Wear 3, so far ALL watches with that processor are going to be updated (Ticwatch Pro 3 and E3, Fossil Gen 6, and the recently released Falster Gen 4 -- which I just ordered). It'd be bizarre that TH would be the first or only with such a processor sans the update. This update, due to its Fitbit incorporated features (not clear to be present on the Galaxy 4, maybe to be added later), will be a big deal. No company willing to put this new Android OS in a watch (Wear OS 2 is Android 9), for the seamless syncing with Android phones, will miss out on this qualitative leap. One caveat though: Wear OS 3 is incompatible with iPhone. And for good reason: Google is betting so much on Wear OS 3 that it foresees Applelites leaving the walled garden if they want to have something other than a fancy hotel soap bar attached to their wrists.

 

Another non-update update about TH Gen 4 by 'average dad' (i.e., reading the list of capabilities of the new processor + speculating on sponsorship timing):

TAG Heuer Connected 2022 Update!! - YouTube

 

@Akineton. If what you say is true about Wear OS 3 not being compatible with iOS (which I didn't know but could explain why the Galaxy Watch 4 is actually not), then there is 0 chance TH will incorporate it in the their watches as more than 50% of their customers carry an iPhone. I don't see them releasing a watch on Wear OS 2 again knowing that they will never be able to update it. Hence, the LV move with its own OS make sense and the connected team being one at LVMH, there are big chances TH also incorporates the LVMH OS with a specific customization.

... Or they realease the Gen 4 with the exact same design (beside new colors, bezels etc.) as the Gen 3 with Snapdragon 4100 as a transition release before having the Gen 5 with their OS in 2023.
IMHO.

 

That is a good point: It may be the case that Wear OS 3 is incompatible with iPhones "in its current implementation" (namely, in new Samsung smartwatches). And as much as Google is dying to do the same as Apple (who makes their watches incompatible with Android), they might not be able to afford it -- at least for now. In their I/O conference, where Google introduced Wear OS 3, they specifically said that they won't say more about future compatibility (when they were pushed to answer). So the possibility is there.

If it is true that wearables are going to be as important as phones in the next 5-10 years (we still don't see clearly how), that might give a glimpse of hope to Google regarding iPhone users jumping ship when they realize that they are condemned forever to Apple watches only (and Garmin, Huawei, and smaller proprietary OSes). But until that happens, another alternative is emerging.

Google went out of their way to specify that the update, unlike most, is strictly *optional*. It is rebuilt from the ground up to the point that it necessitates a hard reset (it brings Android 11 features into the watch), AND "some features will be missing" (we will know more about this bit after July 2022), encouraging users to continue with Wear OS 2 if they so prefer, given that Google promised to continue updating Wear OS 2.
Since F. Arnault said more than once that the TH smartwatch is the bridge between 'younger' users coming from the tech world (e.g., me), and their core biz (i.e., mechanical watches), it'd be problematic to go the L. Vuitton way and develop a proprietary OS (although the possibility is certainly there, having the same parent company), alienating those who enjoy the seamless syncing with that 'other Android': our phones.

The solution might be thus (and I submit that this will happen): releasing the TH Gen 4, equipped with Qualcomm 4100+ *BUT* with Wear OS 2 off the box, leaving Wear OS 3 as what Google is already prepping people to internalize anyway: An option. In that way, they accomplish their twofold aim: 1) Keeping Apple people around with a mediocre-to-good experience (not that they overly care anyway, knowing the price of living in a nice walled garden) that will certainly get improved -- if you own 4100+ watches running on Wear OS 2 (Ticwatch Pro 3 & E3, Fossil Gen 6, Falster Gen 4) you know what I mean in terms of speed. 2) Keeping the option to install Wear OS 3 (incompatible with Apple), providing the best experience and starting what is inevitable anyway: two incompatible ecosystems competing for everything in your life.

P.S.: Of course if Wear OS 3 turns out to be compatible with Apple, what I predict will take place as a two-pronged solution becomes moot.

 

@Albert-AMG The thing is how many TH Connected users are actually using WatchMaker ? If we could guess the answer, then that would be a hint or wether TH will launch its own proprietary OS. But they could also decide that the risk of losing x% customer because of not being compatible with WatchMaker is worth taking...

 

So no more insight on the Gen 4 ?
I am about to get the Garmin Epix 2 where my TH Gen 3 band should fit !! ... even though I don't do sports but I kinda like the look... ;-)

 

definitely a price increase. 10% and 2 sizes. 42 and 45.

 

I agree mate. But it seems like every year we get price increases and nothing extra to justify it.
Looks like Frederic is in a big hurry to increase Tag Heuer profits. Maybe he is looking to move up the Ladder very quickly.

 

I think it would be desirable for TH to not have WatchMaker compatibility - remember the 'exclusive' watch faces they have launched as some of the LE connected's that have been on WatchMaker hours later? And then TH having those faces removed some time later? Breaking WM compatibility removes that and instead opens an opportunity for TH to sell exclusive faces from their back catalogue.

 

Good point. Good business to be able to charge, say 200 Euro, for a new exclusive watch face

 

When you see how fast the new Louis Vuitton smartwatch ran out of stock, increasing the price by 10% was not even on their product launch meeting

 

If 42mm materializes (a link with the info would be great), that would be the most compelling argument for me to get the Gen4.
I skipped Gen 3 not because it's the most exquisite piece of Chinese craftsmanship (TAG 'Huawei' I heard it being called -- kinda rhymes), not because it is not more powerful than my 1GB RAM Intel 41mm, and not because it is not modular, but simply because 45mm looks positively ridiculous on my wrist. I am not a small guy (5'11, 220 lb.) but I have small joints (which is both a blessing and a curse). Obviously, it is 100% subjective, since someone told me it does not look so bad when I tried it. For me, it looked like something protruding unseemly from my arm.

Thus, I have two modular 41mms (for casual outing) a MontBlanc Summit 2 (for dressy occasions), and all the versions of Movado Connect 2.0 for work. I ended up here by first buying *all* the Falster 3 versions, then all the Movados. But I needed 'more'. Still: None exceed 42mm. I'm considering the F Constant Vitality -- for more discreet occasions -- for the same reason.

I posted on various media outlets how the 41 mm is being sold for almost their original retail price (I know of some who paid more) and whether TH is a company that is aware of that. I, and others, would skip them forever, sticking to more Montblancs and wear my 41s till they die/break -- aware that F. Arnault said that 45mm is better because of the better interface with the screen (as if it would be mostly about *that* -- perhaps for him it is, the smallish guy that he is, wearing a gadget that looks bigger than his head. Subjectively).

TH answered me recently saying that they will convey this up. If they actually listened to customers and release the option, they will earn some bonus points with this new one.

 

While being a graduate student I worked in an industry where I saw, weekly, *many* 30somethings spending $2+k strictly partying. It would seem that what we read everywhere, that the last decade the poorer became poorer and the rich richer (*if* you consider that to be rich -- some not yet), is verifiable in some areas (e.g., the so-called 'creative class' -- youngish tech people with substantial financial power).

The Modular situation (#connectedtoeternity and all that), although innovative and interesting (Biver's defence of it in an interview is passionate) would perhaps make little sense for someone who spends 2k on a whim -- and now there are many of those (we all know some personally). When pressed to give a reasoned answer (other than "I just like it, fuck it"), one I got was something like this: "I spent $2k, use it for 2 years, sell it at $0.5k, and in the meantime, I used something I really liked, for which I paid $750 a year -- I spend more than that on dates and partying weekly). Add to the price 10%, 20%, make it in China, they will still buy.

This newish segment of the market, many of them coming from the tech world, is what Arnault is lusting for. If he doesn't tap on that, others will (they already are) -- the wondering money is there, and they don't need big quantities to move (nobody is competing here with Apple or Samsung, as Biver pointed out). When some say that even brands like Rolex will make smartwatches years from now, it is not because they think they are at existential risk (mechanical die-hards will always be there), but because there is a newish pool with strong financial means that need to be lured via technology.

Are luxury, exclusivity, and heritage negated by a software-driven technological addition? Some die-hard mechanical loyalists may be alienated and even jump ship -- surely luxury watch companies are already factoring that in into their Excel sheets and will act as they see fit (i.e., +$).

 

My next buddy Garmin Epix with a new Amoled display (couldn't wait for the Gen 4). Looks (just a bit) like an "rough" Omega Connected

 

So it looks like the Gen 4 or what Tag Heuer like to call it The Connected Carrera E4 will not have Wear OS 3 out of the box. It will be an upgrade in the future. It will have the latest 4100 chipset.
Not sure what happens to IOS compatibility once the upgrade happens.

 

Thank you for this. Any link to share or you heard it from personal comm?

It makes sense, since Samsung has the exclusivity to WearOS 3 for a year.
Now, there are 2 likely scenarios:
1) Such a locked-in year will end in August, after a year that Samsung released the Galaxy 4.
2) Such year would end in May, a year after Google announced WearOS 3 in collab with Samsung.
The latter scenario seems to be more likely, since the Pixel watch will be released in May, and it is unlikely that it will come without WearOS 3 out of the box. Speculating a bit, it'd give credence to the rumour that TH AD's employees are undergoing 'training' for a 'new watch' this month.

That means we could see the 'Connected Carrera E4' (thanks for that!) as soon as May.

However, I'd contest the possibility that it'll come with the 4100. Instead, the 4100+, with reportedly better battery life, seems more feasible.
(I do own a WearOS 2 with the 4100 -- Ticwatch, for the gym -- and the speed is noticeably faster. I ordered a Skagen Falster Gen 6, which has the 4100+. Let's see how that goes RE battery life).

Remember how TH chose the 3100 for the Connected Gen3 just ONE MONTH before the 4100 was released?
That ill-conceived move received a massive backlash and made a ton of tech-savvy young adults (THE niche that F.Arnault is aiming for with this one) hold off purchasing it, very aware that a noticeable faster processor was around the corner (I count myself among them, although I'd have forgiven that if another 41mm -- of which I own two -- would have been released; indeed, I happily purchased a 3100 equipped 42mm Montblanc Summit 2 for more dressy occasions. By the same token, if they don't release this time the rumored 42mm version, I'll skip it again). TH will doubtfully commit the same mistake (and yeah, they are not the same processors: check the quasi-scandal due to Mobvoi nonchalantly advertising a watch as having the 4100+ when in fact it carried the 4100).

Now, the interesting question is whether...
1) The current iteration of WearOS 3 as incompatible with iOS is so due to Samsung building its own walled-garden à la Apple (and thus, shutting iPhone users off the same way iOS shut Samsung (and non-iPhone) users off; or...
2) The current iteration of WearOS 3 as incompatible with iOS is so due to both Google and Samsung having conjointly built it like that from the ground up, so that iPhone users would have to either switch to Google's Android, or remain forever using Apple, Garmin and small proprietary OS watches (given that even with Fitbit, now Google-owned, there is a chance that Wear OS 3 will power them in the future, by admission of its own CEO).

If 1, then there's no problem for iOS users -- beyond the infamous slightly inferior experience as opposed to those with Android devices.
If 2, as I submitted before, the upgrade to WearOS 3 will be left as an option. Even Google portrays it as the best *option* (unlike most updates, non-optional in nature), promising to continue with updates to WearOS 2. So, if you want the full experience, own an Android phone and upgrade; if you want to stick to your iPhone, remain with the lesser experience -- which iPhone users by now are already domesticated to endure anyway when outside the Apple curated world.

 

I too have the TicWatch and have owned the Galaxy 4 on the new OS while using a Samsung phone.
TicWatch is great due to dual layer screen
Adding that extra battery life.

All our questions will be answered soon enough. I'm thinking March is the release date.