The majority of smartwatches out in the market today play nicely with both iOS and Android devices. The Apple Watch, on the other hand, essentially only works with the iPhone. We suppose this is fine given the tight integration with iOS that Android users would have missed out on anyway, but having more options isn’t a bad thing.
It turns out that Apple was close to bringing Android support to the Apple Watch. This is according to a report from Bloomberg in which it was revealed that Apple was close to completing Apple Watch support for Android, but the company ultimately decided to scrap those plans.
According to one of their sources who has knowledge about the decision, it seems that Apple was concerned that supporting Android would “dilute” the value of the watch to the iPhone. Right now the Apple Watch is positioned as the perfect companion to the iPhone, kind of like an exclusive piece of hardware.
Making it available to everyone would mean that customers who did not want an iPhone could still buy an Apple Watch, which could in theory drive down the demand for an iPhone. That being said, it is unclear how the Apple Watch would have worked with Android since Apple has basically no control over how Android operates and how they might get things to sync up, but what do you think? Would you like to have seen the Apple Watch support Android?
Source: Bloomberg
Note: this article may contain affiliate links that help support our authors and keep the Phandroid servers running.