It looks like Google is once again set to rebrand an Android named product or service to something more Google generic. In the latest beta of Google Play Services, version 12.5, references to Android Wear have been changed to Wear OS, complete with a new “W” icon and everything.
New Wear OS References in the Google Play Services Beta
The change was first spotted in name only in the version of Play Services that came in the Android P Developer Preview. But a new beta rolled out to those in the beta channel for the app and you get the above changes when using the Nearby feature of Android.
If this is indeed going to be the direction going forward, it makes sense. Google has been slowly separating things from the Android name, instead making them Google branded or generic. The best example of this is the recent change from Android Pay to Google Pay. For Android Wear, this makes sense because Wear devices have long been compatible with iPhones thanks to the Wear app.
Keep in mind that this is only in the beta and Google could simply be trolling testing us with new the branding to see what people think of it. We will probably know for sure in another month or two when the 12.5 version hits the stable release version of Play Services.
