Apple Watch vs Android Wear: Google Announces iPhone Compatibility of Newer Wearables

The competition is on versus the Apple Watch and the Android Wear after a recent announcement from Google revealed that their new watches will be iPhone compatible.

ABC News said that a free application can now be downloaded by Android Wear owners to their iPhone 5, 5C, 5S, 6 and 6 Plus which have iOS 8.2 or larger.

It was also noted that they only need to pair the watch to their phones then users can already "take advantage of the watch's always-on displays, fitness tracking and a savvy assistant to answer questions and give reminders."

In a blog post, Google said that the pairing of the two devices will enable users to check phone calls, messages and notifications from various applications.

"Android Wear features always-on displays, so you'll never have to move your wrist to wake up your watch," added the Google blog.

The same report said that with the watch, people can also set their fitness goals and even track their activities like running and walking.

"Receive timely tips like when to leave for appointments, current traffic info, and flight status," read another use of the smart watch as per Google.

The Verge added that only three watches officially support the iPhone including the Huawei Watch, the Asus ZenWatch 2 and the LG Watch Urbane.

Lead product manager for Wear Jeff Chang told The Verge that Google does not support older watches since the company wants to make this device work "right away" even without updates.

"In order to guarantee a good experience, where out of the box it will work immediately and you don't have to do any fancy footwork, that's why it has to be the newer watches," Chang explained.

A similar TechCrunch report added that previous watch models do not yet have the technical requirement for this upgrade.

"We wanted to make sure that iOS users would have a great experience with Android Wear out of the box. We've worked with manufacturers to ensure that the newest watches work really well with modern iPhones, but last year's watches aren't technically supported," Google told TechCrunch.

Will this new boost from Google affect the sales of the Apple Watch? Forbes recently reported that Apple shipped about 3.6 million watches during the second quarter of the year. This spike in the Apple Watch market will reportedly maintain Apple's top spot in the market in terms of smart watches. People are now eager to know if this will change soon.

Gizmag concluded that the Apple Watch remains to be the best smartwatch, but its lead over the Wear became minimal with the recent iPhone compatibility. It also noted that the Android Wear is a less expensive choice compared to the Apple counterpart.