Google has announced that new Android Wear smartwatches will work with iPhones. For now, the news only applies to the Huawei Watch, the Asus ZenWatch 2 and the LG Watch Urbane, but future Android Wear devices will also support iOS. Supported features include displaying iPhone notifications, voice search, a variety of watch faces, Google Now, fitness tracking and rich notifications from some Google apps.
However, because of Apple’s restrictions, third-party mobile development firms will not be able to offer Android Wear apps for iPhone users.
Analysts note that Android Wear smartwatches tend to be less expensive than the Apple Watch, and that this news will give iPhone users more options. “Our vision is a lot of diversity of hardware choices regardless of what phone you use,” said Jeff Chang, Google’s lead product manager for Wear. “You’ll be able to get the watch you want.”
