Google just took the wraps off the Pixel Watch 5, and it brings a batch of upgrades to the formula the company has been building for a few generations now. The real question is how much it actually improves on last year’s Pixel Watch 4.
At a glance, the two watches look nearly identical. Underneath, though, Google made some meaningful changes, including a quicker chipset, a more capable Gemini experience, and new tools for tracking health, fitness, and sleep.
Here’s the catch. The Pixel Watch 4 now sells for well below its original price, which raises a fair question: does the Pixel Watch 5 bring enough new to earn its $399 starting price? Let’s get into what actually changed.
Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4: Pricing and Availability
The Pixel Watch 5 starts at $399 for the 41mm size, and you can pre-order it now ahead of its release on August 20, 2026.
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For comparison, the Pixel Watch 4 launched last August at $349, a bit cheaper than the new model. These days you can find it for even less, down to around £249 in the UK as of writing, and that price will likely keep dropping now that the Pixel Watch 5 is officially out.
Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4: Hardware
Let’s get the obvious part out of the way first: hardware-wise, there isn’t a lot separating this from last year’s model.
Like the Pixel Watch 4, the Watch 5 comes in 41mm and 45mm sizes with the same domed Actua 360 display, still hitting a peak brightness of 3000 nits. It’s just as thin at 12.3mm and just as light at 31 grams, and it carries the same set of health and fitness sensors as before; Google is just putting them to better use this time around.
Durability hasn’t changed either. You’re still getting IP68 and 5ATM protection, and battery life is rated the same too, up to 40 hours according to Google, though that figure comes from the larger 45mm model and its 465mAh battery.
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Where you do see something new is color. The Pixel Watch 5 launches in Pyrite, Canyon, Fog, and Olive, replacing the Matte Black, Champagne Gold, Polished Silver, and Satin Moonstone options from the Watch 4.
Pixel Watch 5 vs Pixel Watch 4: Performance
The one real hardware change comes down to the chip inside. The Pixel Watch 4 ran on the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2, and the Pixel Watch 5 moves up to the Snapdragon W510. That’s a genuine upgrade, though it still doesn’t reach the top-tier Snapdragon Wear Elite that powers rivals like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9.
Google says the new chip delivers a 12% jump in CPU performance over last year’s watch. Combine that with an extra 3GB of RAM and a dual-chip setup, and Google puts the total performance gain at around 20%.
Whether you’ll actually feel that difference day to day remains to be seen. Part of why the Pixel Watch 4 has stayed popular a year after launch is that it still feels quick and responsive in daily use. We’ll have a clearer answer once we’ve spent real time with both watches side by side.
Pixel Watch 5 Health and Fitness Control
The gap between these two watches shows up clearly once you look at health and fitness.
The Pixel Watch 5 adds a new Breathing Emergency Detection feature that reaches out to emergency services on its own if it picks up a sustained drop in your oxygen levels. Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance tracking are new too, giving you monthly summaries without needing an outside device to calibrate first.
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There’s also a new Strength Training mode that tracks your reps and form in real time, and the Google Health app pairs it with videos walking you through each exercise.
GPS got a real upgrade as well. Google says the Pixel Watch 5 maps routes in cities twice as accurately as before, thanks to a new algorithm that pulls in Google Maps data. The company claims it now beats the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro for accuracy in dense urban areas. We’ll be putting that claim to the test ourselves before taking Google’s word for it.
Pixel Watch 5 Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking got some attention too. The standout addition is a new Sleep Breathing Quality metric, which watches for shifts in your blood oxygen levels while you sleep. That can be a useful early flag for something like sleep apnea, though Google hasn’t gotten it medically certified for that purpose.
Bedtime mode got smarter as well, mostly around automation. The watch can now sense when you’ve actually fallen asleep and trigger things on its own, like pausing whatever’s playing on your headphones or switching off your bedroom lights.
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There’s a new Smart Wake alarm too. Instead of jolting you awake at a fixed time, it watches for a light sleep phase near your alarm and wakes you up during that window, which makes getting up feel less jarring.
Google also reworked the sleep tracking algorithm itself under the hood, and claims a 15% improvement in how accurately it identifies your sleep stages.
Pixel Watch 5 and Gemini
Gemini sits at the center of the Pixel Watch experience, and Google says it should feel noticeably quicker on the Watch 5.
That comes down to how it processes requests. Previously, Gemini on the watch had to send your query to the cloud, wait for it to process, then pull the response back down, all over the internet. The Pixel Watch 5 now handles a lot of that directly on the device instead.
Google says this speeds things up and also means basic tasks, like setting a timer, work even when you’re offline.
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You’ll also get one-tap action suggestions based on what you’re doing in the moment. So if you’ve got an event sitting in your Google Calendar, the watch might surface a quick shortcut straight into Google Maps navigation to get you there.
Early Thoughts
The Pixel Watch 5 reads like a familiar step up rather than a big leap. The core hardware barely moved; the domed Actua 360 display, the overall design, the durability ratings, battery claims, and sensor lineup all carry over from the Watch 4. If you were hoping for Google to reinvent its smartwatch this year, this isn’t that.
Where Google did put in the work is on the software side. The upgraded Snapdragon W510 chip, the extra RAM, and on-device Gemini processing could make everyday use feel noticeably snappier, and the new health, fitness, and sleep features give the watch a broader pitch beyond the usual step-counting basics.
Whether all that justifies the higher price, especially with the Pixel Watch 4 sitting right there for less money, is something we can only judge properly once we’ve worn both watches for a while.
Right now, the Pixel Watch 5 looks like a refinement rather than a reinvention. But the software and AI changes underneath could end up mattering more than the spec sheet suggests once we get real hands-on time with it.
