Bottom line: Indian tech company Pebble has launched an Apple Watch Ultra clone that’s virtually identical to the real deal – at least, in the renders on its website. Turns out, there’s a good reason they look so similar.
The Pebble Cosmos Engage features a 1.95-inch IPS always-on display operating at 320 x 385 pixels with 600 nits of brightness that is set in an all-metal, shock-proof casing. Pebble claims the wearable additionally features wireless charging, advanced Bluetooth calling, multiple sports modes, an IP67 rating, up to five days of battery life and more.
It is being offered with a variety of bands, most of which look like genuine Apple products (again, in the online renderings). The price? ₹3,999, which works out to less than $50. For comparison, the Apple Watch Ultra is priced at $799.
Pebble’s website looks semi presentable at first glance, but take a closer look and you’ll soon realize what is going on. They lifted photos from Apple, Walmart and other websites and (poorly) edited them to meet their needs.
Pebble also sells a knockoff of the standard Apple Watch called the Pebble Frost for ₹2,199, or about $27. It claims to have a 1.87-inch HD display and several other high-end sensors and monitoring features.
It is also worth mentioning that this Pebble isn’t the same startup that helped jumpstart the modern smartwatch movement a decade ago. That company was eventually absorbed by Fitbit for $23 million. A few years later, Google purchased Fitbit for $2.1 billion.
You are free to spend your money on whatever you see fit, but don’t expect Pebble to deliver anything even remotely similar to an actual Apple Watch Ultra at this price point. The poorly edited images should be reason enough to steer clear of this company. While the quality of clones have improved over the years, they’re still not the real deal. And who knows what’s happening with all of the personal data you load onto the device.