5 smartwatches you should buy instead of the Google Pixel Watch 5

The Google Pixel Watch 5 is the company’s newest smartwatch, featuring fresh case and band colors, improved performance, larger batteries, more local storage, and new health and fitness tracking metrics. On the surface, it looks virtually identical to the Pixel Watch 4, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the Watch 4 was already a fantastic-looking smartwatch. The Pixel Watch 5 costs more, though, as is the case with all new tech launches in 2026.

The higher cost is particularly annoying, given that the hardware in the Pixel Watch 5 is not very different from that of its predecessor. Thankfully, if you’re disappointed by the price increase and limited changes, you’re not out of luck.