The Pixel Watch 5 is heading for its first price increase since the line launched, according to a leak detailing pricing and colors ahead of Google's August 12 event, and it arrives with a new green colorway called Pyrite.
The increase isn't spread evenly. In the US, the 45mm Wi-Fi model climbs from $399 to $429, and the 45mm LTE model goes from $499 to $529. In Europe the pattern flips, with the 41mm models taking the increase while the 45mm sizes hold at last year's prices. Previously, Google had left Pixel Watch prices completely flat between the Watch 3 and Watch 4.
Rising memory chip costs are being blamed, the same reason given for the Pixel 11 dropping its cheapest 128GB storage tier and climbing about 100 euros in Europe. Whether the higher price buys real hardware gains is hard to say since detailed Watch 5 specs haven't leaked, though the main expected upgrade is a move from Qualcomm's Snapdragon W5 to a custom Google Tensor chip, a first for the line that could push battery life past the Watch 4's roughly 24 hours.
Google isn't alone in raising wearable prices this year. Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 are rumored to cost 30 to 50 euros more than last year's models, and Apple raised prices across its Macs and iPads in June with new iPhones expected to follow this fall. A memory shortage is pushing component costs up across the whole industry, and wearables are absorbing it right alongside phones and laptops.