While many will think of Acer as a boring, run-of-the-mill PC manufacturer, the firm has steadily been building up a reputation among gamers with their Predator line of products. These range from high-end gaming Desktops to Laptops, and more recently Android tablets – with a Predator smartphone in the works, too. So, Acer has some gaming chops, and they’ll no doubt have more of the same to show off during IFA 2016 next month. According to a new report, Acer could even be readying a gaming smartwatch to announce and launch during next month’s show. For Acer to announce new products in the Predator range isn’t surprising, but for them to announce a gaming smartwatch would certainly raise a few eyebrows.
The report comes from the infamous DigiTimes, which often reports – vaguely – on the inner workings of the industry, with reports about components as well as vague plans that may or may not be in the works. According to them, Acer is to announce “a high-end smartwatch for the gaming market and a new smart wearable device”. The latter is something that we can certainly see happening, as Acer has dabbled with fitness trackers in the past, and they’ve yet to enter the Android Wear market, so IFA 2016 could be their chance to join compatriot ASUS in the smartwatch game. As for the gaming smartwatch, this could be many things. First and foremost, it could be a device that’s simply styled to appeal to gamers, much like fancy keyboards and the Predator range of tablets and laptops are themselves. It could also be a smartwatch that somehow ties in with games that Acer has partnered with developers on, or it could be an Android device that just happens to run games.
Regardless of what this “high-end smartwatch for the gaming market” ends up being, Acer has a long history of making some waves during trade shows like IFA, and next month’s should be no exception. With the recent launch of Samsung’s GameBox launcher, it’s clear that there’s a market for gaming hardware and software marketed to the mobile user as well as the PC user, and Acer know how to make decent, appealing gaming hardware.