Google Android Wear smartwatch to be released soon, leak claims, ready to take on the Apple Watch

The watches are reportedly codenamed Angelfish and Swordfish, and aim to put a robot assistant to chat to on your wrist

Sundar Pichai presents Android Wear, the company's smartwatch OS (Reuters)

Google is planning to release its own smartwatch to take on the Apple Watch soon, according to leaks.

The company will make two of its own watches, according to new leaks. They’re expected to be released at the beginning of 2017.

The leak follows Google’s launch of the Pixel and Pixel XL phones. Those are the first that Google made itself – and as such bake in an artificially intelligent assistant that isn’t available to any other Android users.

The watch will include the same technology, according to the leaks. It will aim to put that Google Assistant – which at the moment is only available in Google Home and the new phones – on people’s wrists so that they can talk to it at any time.

Google has long made a watch version of its operating system, called Android Wear. But that has only been available on smartwatches made by other companies, such as LG and Sony.

Now Google appears to be taking the same approach that it has with its phones. Until this year, it had tended to help out with the design of its own Android phone as well as making the operating system for others to use – but the new Pixels are built by Google and include special features that aren’t available on other hardware.

The same is likely to happen with the new watches.

Some pictures of potential watches were being shared online, apparently indicating that one would be smaller than the other. The Apple Watch comes in two sizes, roughly equivalent with those apparently being planned by Google.

The two watches might also have different features, according to a leak to Android Police. The site reported that the larger watch will include more sport features like a data connection and GPS, while the other smaller one would lack those.