The OnePlus Watch 4 is an upcoming smartwatch from the Chinese titan OnePlus. The successor to the excellent OnePlus Watch 3, we all know what to expect. We just need a release date and price from OnePlus itself.
Or, you could just buy a OnePlus Watch 4 through AliExpress, where it is currently being offered for just over £300 (around $406).
You can buy it, but it’s a gamble
OnePlus faithful are currently waiting eagerly to hear when they can order their new smartwatches — so it must have come to a real shock to them when a member of the r/WearOS subreddit claimed to have bought and received a brand new OnePlus Watch 4 before the smartwatch is actually available.
The watch appears to have been bought from this AliExpress listing, or one that’s very similar, and it does appear to be a legitimate OnePlus Watch 4. You might assume it’s too good to be true, but u/Several-End-3612 seems happy with their purchase, and has posted a short review of their three days with the watch.
Credit: u/Several-End-3612
Credit: u/Several-End-3612
They praise the watch’s speed and smoothness, and the battery life in particular, which is said to be around four-to-six days on a single charge. This is broadly in line with the performance of the previous watch, and so would seem to be legitimate.
Should you trust this listing?
However, it does come down to how much you choose to trust a site like AliExpress. While you can get some bargains from AliExpress and similar websites, it’s always worth being careful when using it. Dropping $400 on an unreleased watch from AliExpress may not be the best course of action if you’re not prepared to potentially lose that money or be scammed with a fake or an imitation of a real product.
One point to consider before dropping real money is how trustworthy the user in question is. The account is only five days old, and seems to have been created purely to post about buying this watch on AliExpress. It’s also using images from the AliExpress listing’s review section, raising more questions.
None of this proves without doubt that the user is trying to advertise fake smartwatches, but it is more reason to be aware of potential scams. If you have any doubts at all (and you should), it would be better to wait until the OnePlus Watch 4 is available through official channels.