ZTE will launch an Android Wear smartwatch in 2017

With the impending release of Android Wear 2.0, and two accompanying wearables from Google itself, ZTE says that it plans to enter the market, according to CNET. "[ZTE] already has a US carrier partner lined up to sell the watch, which has its own LTE connection and can run independent of a phone," the story says, and that battery life, a primary issue with the last generation of smartwatches, has been improved tremendously.

Whether independent LTE connectivity will be enough to get people to replace their current smartwatches, or buy into the ecosystem in the first place, remains to be seen, but despite the tepid recent response it's clear some phone makers still believe there is always money in the smartwatch banana stand.

Daniel Bader

Daniel Bader was a former Android Central Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor for iMore and Windows Central.