More than two years before the release of the first Apple Watch, Pebble’s smartwatches were already beloved by consumers. In 2012, Pebble Technology launched a Kickstarter campaign that would become a posterchild for the platform. It raised more $10 million in funding, which was more than any other Kickstarter campaign at that point. And Pebble Technology actually delivered, with watches shipping in January of 2013. Sadly, the company filed for insolvency in 2016 and Fitbit ended up with most of the assets. But today we have exciting news: Pebble watches are back and available for pre-order, in all but name.
The history
Our own Alasdair Allan covered some of this a month ago, as details were just starting to emerge. His article provides a lot of information about the history of Pebble Technology, the acquisitions following its demise, and the state of its intellectual property. Give that a read to find out all the fascinating particulars, but the basic gist is this:
Fitbit purchased most of Pebble Technology’s assets following its insolvency in late 2016. That included most intellectual property and many of Pebble Technology’s employees. But notably, it did not include Pebble hardware. Then, in 2021, Google purchased Fitbit and its IP — including that inherited from Pebble Technology. Finally, less than two months ago, in January 2025, Google announced that they would make PebbleOS open-source.
Shortly thereafter, Pebble Technology founder Eric Migicovsky stated his intention to bring back Pebble watches in some form. That brings you up to date with the events at the time Allan’s article was published. But there was critical information missing at that point: what the hardware would look like, when it would be available, and how much it would cost.
Now we have answers to all three questions and they’re going to make Pebble enthusiasts very, very happy.
The new “Core” smartwatches
There will be two smartwatches available under the new “Core” brand name: the Core 2 Duo (similar to the Pebble 2) and the Core Time 2 (similar to the Pebble Time 2). Both are available for pre-order right now at repebble.com, for $149 and $225, respectively. The Core 2 Duo will start shipping in July and the Core Time 2 will start shipping in December.
Both retain the features that made their Pebble predecessors so popular, but with upgrades to match the progress of technology in the years since. Pebble smartwatches had an enthusiastic fanbase because they were everything that the Apple Watch and its Android mimics weren’t. They were simple, sturdy, and had incredible battery life. They gave customers the features that mattered, without the resource-intensive bloat of features that didn’t.
The new Core smartwatches will run PebbleOS, along with all of the 10,000+ compatible apps and watch faces. They’ll have ePaper displays and will be just as hackable as their Pebble forebearers. And they’ll even have some of the same hardware, which has been in storage for the last six years.
New features
But there are some really desirable new upgrades, too. Compared to the Pebble 2, the Core 2 Duo will have much better battery life (30 days instead of 7), a speaker, a better vibration motor, more robust buttons, a barometer, and a compass. The extended battery life is mostly thanks to the new Nordic nRF52840 BLE chip, which is much more efficient than what was available when the Pebble 2 was developed.
The Core Time 2 will have similar upgrades, plus a few interesting extras. Most notably, it will have a larger 64-color 1.5” ePaper display with touch capability. It will also have microphone in addition to the speaker, which will have quite a lot of potential for applications like AI voice assistance. It won’t have the same body as the Pebble Time 2, but it looks similar with its minimalist metal frame.
A devoted community of Pebble users has kept their old smartwatches going for years, but now a whole new crop of customers will be able to enjoy these cherished designs. And if you’ve managed to keep your Pebble smartwatch alive all this time and it is starting to show its age, now is the perfect time to secure a replacement.
