Google Pixel Watch 4 vs. Pixel Watch 3: What’s Different and Is It Worth Upgrading?

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 and the Pixel Watch 3 share a lot in common. Both have curved teardrop glass above the watch face, pack the same set of sensors, support Fitbit-powered health tracking, and offer lifestyle features like calling, texting, and contactless payments. The Pixel Watch 4 features a curved display beneath curved glass for an even more eye-catching look, built-in access to Gemini AI, additional health guidance, and extended battery life. Do these upgrades warrant springing for the newest model, or does the Pixel Watch 3 hold its own? Let’s break down the differences between the two to help you decide which smartwatch is right for you.

Price

Google keeps the price of the Pixel Watch 4 consistent with the last generation at launch. The smaller 41mm variant starts at $349, and the larger 45mm version costs $399. LTE connectivity costs $100 more for each. Google has since dropped the price of the Pixel Watch 3, with the 41mm model now available for $249.99 and the 45mm model for $299.99. Based solely on price, the Pixel Watch 3 is more affordable, so it wins this category.

Winner: Pixel Watch 3

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Display

When we saw the Pixel Watch 4 on display next to older models in a line, it clearly stood out thanks to its curved display. While striking in appearance, the Actua 360 display also has 10% more active area and 15% smaller bezels than the Pixel Watch 3. The screen is easier to see at an angle. It’s brighter as well, at 3,000 nits (the Pixel Watch 3 tops out at 2,000 nits).

Both watches have AMOLED displays that cover the DCI-P3 color space, so they are equally sharp and vibrant.

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Design

Aside from the screen, the Pixel Watch 3 and Watch 4 have similar designs. They have aluminum bodies offered in either 41mm or 45mm sizes. They both have a customizable side button and a haptic crown. They have IP68 durability ratings and can survive in water up to 164 feet deep. Both come in a variety of colors with different band choices. The Pixel Watch 4 comes in black or silver, with the larger version also offering a Satin Moonstone finish, and the smaller version adding Champagne Gold to the mix. The Watch 3 also comes in silver, black, or gold with an additional hazel option.

Different bands on the Pixel Watch 4 (Credit: Eric Zeman)

The Pixel Watch 4 is the first watch in the line to be fully repairable. If something goes wrong, you can replace the screen or the battery without needing to replace the whole watch.

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Battery

The Pixel Watch 4 has a bigger battery than its predecessor, increasing to 325mAh from 306mAh in the 41mm version and to 455mAh from 420mAh in the 45mm size. Google has upped the stated battery life for its newest models, estimating 30 hours for the 41mm model and 40 hours for the 45mm version, up from 24 hours for both Pixel Watch 3 sizes.

In testing, both generations exceeded Google’s estimates. The large Pixel Watch 4 lasted an impressive 56 hours in real-world use with the always-on display enabled. The Pixel Watch 3 lasted 34 and 46.5 hours for the small and large sizes, respectively, under the same conditions.

The Pixel Watch 4 on its new charger (Credit: Eric Zeman)

The Pixel Watch 4 ships with a new charger that works quickly and offers added convenience. Instead of a puck, the new charger holds the watch on its side, allowing you to see the time, charge amount, and any set alarms on the display while it powers up. It fully recharged in 43 minutes in our tests, compared with 78 minutes for the Pixel Watch 3, on their included chargers with an 18W brick (not included).

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Processor

The Pixel Watch 4 features upgraded processors that offer improved efficiency, potentially enhancing its battery life even further. Like the previous version, the Watch 4 features a dual-chipset design, housing the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor alongside a Cortex-M55 coprocessor, which upgrades over the Qualcomm SW5100 and Cortex-M33 found in the Watch 3.

The new processor allows for emergency satellite communication. If you’re out hiking away from your phone and a traditional signal, you’ll still be able to call for help.

Both the Pixel Watch 3 and 4 have 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Lifestyle Features

On the software side, the Pixel Watch 4 launches with Wear OS 6, which is one generation newer than what’s available on the Pixel Watch 3. Most notably, it comes with Google’s Gemini built in, and you can optionally raise your wrist to talk to the conversational AI assistant. You can use voice commands to ask Gemini questions, send texts, or interact with your watch’s features and apps such as Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Maps.

The app drawer on the Pixel Watch 3 (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)

Otherwise, the Pixel Watch 4 retains the lifestyle features of its predecessor, giving you access to many third-party wearable apps via the Play Store and the ability to make calls and mobile payments from your wrist.

Google has not confirmed if Wear OS 6 and Gemini will come to the Pixel Watch 3 as an update, but I expect so, as Samsung has confirmed its last-generation Galaxy Watch 7 will get access. In that case, Google could keep the raise-to-talk feature exclusive to the Pixel Watch 4 to give its newest model an edge.

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Fitness Features

The Pixel Watch 3 is already a capable health and wellness tool thanks to its tight integration with the Fitbit app. The Pixel Watch 4 has the same set of sensors, including an accelerometer, an altimeter, an ambient light sensor, a barometer, a compass, an electrical sensor to measure skin conductance (cEDA) to gauge stress, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a multi-path optical heart rate sensor, and a skin temperature sensor. It can also monitor blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) with red and infrared sensors and take an ECG with multipurpose electrical sensors.

Both watches can use those sensors to provide an AI-powered Daily Readiness Score, Cardio Load, and Target Load to give you a sense of how well your body can handle exertion, how your fitness is progressing over time, and specific goals for your workouts, respectively. They can also provide daily run recommendations and a library of audio and video workouts as part of a $9.99 per month Fitbit Premium subscription.

The Pixel Watch 4 can track more exercises than its predecessor (Credit: Eric Zeman)

Beyond the capabilities of its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 4 will have an AI-powered coach to give specific fitness and sleep advice, launching as a preview this fall. It adds some new exercise tracking modes, including basketball and pickleball. It has an improved skin temperature sensor for more accurate overnight health data, and a dual-frequency GPS for precise location tracking in cities and forests. It can even work with the Fitbit app to serve as a heads-up display for cycling. Google promises improved automatic workout tracking speed and accuracy on the Pixel Watch 4 thanks to AI, but we couldn’t notice a difference in performance here from the previous generation.

Winner: Pixel Watch 4

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Connectivity

The Pixel Watch 4 upgrades Bluetooth to 6.0 from 5.3 in the Watch 3, but otherwise has the same dual-band 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and optional 4G LTE cellular connectivity as its predecessor. Both support ultra-wideband wireless for precise location tracking. Since we already gave the Pixel Watch 4 credit for its emergency satellite communications and improved GPS, we’ll call this category a split.

Winner: Tie