At AppleInsider, I rarely take on tech without the Apple logo, but this time everything just fell into place. First, our expert Ivan Kuznetsov grabbed the OnePlus 15 instead of the iPhone 17, then I got a tablet from the same brand, and naturally I decided to keep up and get a smartwatch too. That’s how I ended up with the OnePlus Watch 4, paired with an Android smartphone — the very one I periodically take to workouts. They currently cost around 16,500 rubles and surprised me far more than I expected.
The watch is not only technologically advanced but also looks stylish
Switching back to Android after iPhone is usually a bit tough for me: the interface lags here and there, or the battery drains by dinner. So I put the OnePlus newcomer on rather coolly, but took it off a week later thinking I’d been unfairly harsh.
OnePlus Watch 4: Screen, Battery, Protection, and Case Materials
Let me start with the hardware so you know what we’re dealing with. Despite rumors about the brand being wound down, they’ve packed in generous specs:
Open the branded box and you’ll find a very interesting device
- Screen — 1.5″ LTPO AMOLED, 466×466 pixels, under sapphire glass
- Chip — Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 plus a co-processor
- Battery — 632 mAh, claimed up to five days
- Protection — IP68, IP69, 5ATM, and MIL-STD 810H standard
- System — Wear OS 6.0
- Case — titanium, 43 mm diameter
- Colors — black and green, closer to khaki
The price caught my attention first. For roughly the same money they ask for an Apple Watch SE — and the second generation at that, not even the third — here you get titanium and sapphire glass, dual processors, and a capacious battery. It doesn’t look like a “budget alternative” at all — it’s a self-sufficient gadget.
OnePlus Watch 4 for Sports: Heart Rate, VO2 Max, Sleep, and Routes
Here I’ll immediately warn about my bias — for running, the watch is nearly exemplary. Previously I alternated between affordable Android watches and Apple Watch, and each had its share of issues: the former took ages to find satellites and sometimes drew the track off the road, while the latter drained battery too quickly on long distances.
The selection of watch faces is huge, for every taste
The OnePlus Watch 4 resolved all those issues at once. The dual-frequency GPS locks onto satellites in literally seconds, even in dense urban areas, and the plotted route matches reality meter by meter. You no longer need to carry your phone for accurate distance — everything is calculated right on your wrist.
Among the onboard sensors are ECG, VO2 Max estimation, sleep monitoring, a stress scale, and a pulse oximeter. Samsung once caught my eye with its body composition measurement via bioimpedance, but looking at the sports feature set as a whole, OnePlus feels more practical — you actually use the features rather than just checking boxes on a spec sheet.
How the OnePlus Watch 4 Differs from Cheap Chinese Watches
In hand, the watch feels noticeably more expensive than its price tag. The titanium frame and sapphire glass in the green version visually suggest something costing around fifty thousand rubles, and the quadruple protection suite — IP68, IP69, 5ATM, and MIL-STD 810H — means you don’t have to worry about showers, pressurized hot water, or accidental impacts. They weigh a bit more than my Apple Watch, but always stay cool against the skin.
Equally important is the operating system. This runs full Wear OS 6 with the Google Play store, not a stripped-down shell that cheap Chinese watches often use. Telegram, Spotify, Yandex Maps, running trackers — everything installs and launches without any hassle. The dual-chip setup delivers up to five days of battery life in normal mode and up to sixteen in power-saving mode.
You can even chat with Gemini
Since I had already switched from an iPad to the OnePlus Pad 4, the watch fit neatly into the familiar logic: same brand, familiar gestures, unified notification style.
I really didn’t like the charging method. In 2026, they could have made something symmetrical
It wasn’t without nitpicks, though. The watch charges via contact pads, which for a 2026 flagship looks old-fashioned. And five days is a decent result but not record-breaking compared to hybrid models. For Wear OS, however, it’s still excellent.
Do the OnePlus Watch 4 Work with iPhone and iOS
And here’s the reason the watch ended up on my backup smartphone rather than the iPhone. The OnePlus Watch 4 doesn’t work with iPhone — there’s simply no iOS support, and there’s no way around it. The question is more for Google and current Wear OS versions than for OnePlus itself, but that doesn’t make it any easier for an Apple user.
I was saved by a two-phone setup: the main iPhone stays on duty, while the watch lives on my sports Android device that I take to workouts. On the iPhone itself I still have my Apple Watch ordered from Dubai, so the Apple half wasn’t left without a watch either. It turned out to be an honest pairing: a running smartphone with running watch and an iPhone with its own Apple Watch.
Who the OnePlus Watch 4 Is Right For
If you have Android, I confidently recommend buying them
For me, the OnePlus Watch 4 is one of the most balanced options on Wear OS in 2026 at its price point. They’re worth getting if at least one of the following applies to you:
- you train often and value accurate GPS along with long battery life;
- you want premium materials and powerful internals without a premium price tag;
