New Pebble smartwatches are on the way, but iPhone users may want to look elsewhere

Do you remember Pebble? The company that created those cool, versatile, and affordable smartwatches a decade ago? Well, they’re making a comeback — in a way. Eric Migicovsky, the original founder of Pebble, is relaunching the brand with two new PebbleOS watches set to release later this year. While these watches aren’t exactly Pebble watches due to the sale of Pebble’s intellectual property, they are being produced by Migicovsky’s new company, Core Devices, and are named Core watches, running on the open-source PebbleOS.

What to Expect

The first of these watches is the Core 2 Duo, priced at $149. It features a 1.26-inch black and white e-paper display, a polycarbonate frame in white or black, water resistance, step and sleep tracking, and more. With improvements like a 30-day battery life, speaker, barometer, compass, and better buttons compared to the old Pebble 2, the Core 2 Duo is a worthy successor.

Meet the Core Time 2

The Core Time 2 comes with a larger 1.5-inch e-paper touchscreen display supporting 64 colors, a metal frame available in black and white, water resistance, sleep and step tracking, microphone and speaker, and even a heart rate monitor. Both watches are compatible with existing Pebble apps and watch faces.

Pre-orders for the Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 are now open on store.rePebble.com, with shipping scheduled for July and December respectively. While these new PebbleOS watches are platform-agnostic, iPhone users may face some limitations due to restrictions imposed by Apple. Android users, on the other hand, can expect a smoother experience. Sorry, Apple-lovers looking for an e-paper smartwatch!