Google Store redesign shows promise for a possible Pixel Watch reveal

What you need to know

• The Google Store is launching a new, simpler website that replaces busy menus with clear pictures and broader categories.
• Phones and watches are the first categories in the list, signaling that Google could be changing priorities away from the smart home and toward smart watches.
• The new design is now live in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan.

Google sells all of its own products at the aptly named Google Store, a website dedicated to all things Google. Google launched its first physical retail store last Summer and now it's revamping the way its web store looks, including brand new simplified product categories and an important reorganization to note.

Now live in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan, the new Google Store features a simplified layout that features product categories instead of Google brands (via 9to5Google). That's a big move for Google, which previously broke the website down by Pixel, Nest, Stadia, Fitbit, and Pixelbook on the top heading.

The new design features the categories Phones, Watches, Smart Home, Gaming, Laptops, and Subscriptions up top, instead. You can see the difference between the new and old designs in the images below.

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Dialing down into each section, you'll find much more visual representations of each product category and its listings. Previously, you'd have to do a whole lot of reading to find the product you want as each menu was a giant wall of text. Most curiously is the priority change in menu headings, which now puts phones and watches in front of other Google product categories like smart home, gaming, and laptops.

That change comes ahead of the Pixel Watch's expected announcement at Google I/O 2022 early next month, which is part of the latest round of rumors for the fabled Google-built watch. The Pixel Watch has been rumored for years but, as of the last calendar year, all leaks and rumors have pointed toward the same design, giving credence to the credibility of the leaks. We fully expect the Pixel Watch to trade blows with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 as the best Android smartwatch if it ever does come out.