The ZTE Quartz that the Chinese tech giant has reportedly been developing for some time now seems to be real as the device was just leaked in a set of images provided to Android Police by an industry source. The images that can be seen in the gallery below depict a ZTE-made device that’s said to bear the model number ZW10 and seemingly sports an all-metal body and a single physical button on its side. None of the leaked images depict the bottom side of the ZTE Quartz, though the wearable reportedly doesn’t feature a heart rate monitor. According to the same source, ZTE decided against implementing an NFC adapter into its upcoming wearable that will allegedly support 3G networks but won’t be LTE-enabled. The leak also shows the charging cradle of the ZTE Quartz that sports traditional four-pin connectors.
Finally, one shot of the Settings menu of the device clearly shows that the newly leaked wearable is running Android Wear 2.0 on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat which is also confirmed by the boot sequence of the device, the report states, adding that the crown of the watch doesn’t rotate. Due to the fact that ZTE Quartz is apparently running the latest major iteration of Android Wear and boasts 3G capabilities, the smartwatch should be able to operate without being paired to a smartphone, meaning it will function just like the LG Watch Style, LG Watch Sport, and wearables slated to receive the upgrade to Android Wear 2.0 in the coming weeks. It’s currently unclear when the ZTE Quartz will be hitting the market or how much it will cost, but given how the device has been the subject of several rumors in recent months, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer may be close to announcing it.
Regardless, the ZTE Quartz will almost certainly launch in the United States in the future as the wearable was certified by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Bluetooth SIG in early February. Industry watchers initially presumed that ZTE would unveil its upcoming wearable at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, but that hasn’t happened, so it remains to be seen when the Chinese company decides to officially debut its Android Wear 2.0-powered smartwatch.
