The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series is among the best Wear OS devices on the market today, but of course, Samsung's not resting on its laurels. The company's fast at work on its next wearables, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series, which could be officially unveiled as soon as this month. Officially, we don't know a whole lot about the watches just yet — but we've seen plenty of unofficial details from credible sources. Read on to see all the latest.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Design and hardware
Our first hint at what the Galaxy Watch 6 series might look like came way back in February, when leaker Ice Universe tweeted that the Watch 6 will use a "curved glass design." The tweet didn't include any imagery, but the description draws comparisons with the Pixel Watch, which, unlike the flat-screened Galaxy Watch 5, has domed glass over its screen. More recently surfaced renders might contradict this, however.
The presumed Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic.
In April, Ice Universe went on to tweet that the Watch 6 is "100% confirmed" to have a larger display than the Watch 5 did, coming in at 1.47 inches. That's only slightly bigger than the base Watch 5's, 1.4" screen, but Ice Universe also says "the screen proportion" will be an improvement, meaning there'll be smaller bezels around the Watch 6's display than there are on the Watch 4 and Watch 5. We still haven't seen imagery of the base-model Watch 6, however.
Per a series of reports this spring, the Watch 6 series will mark the comeback of Samsung's Classic-style smartwatches, or at least of a defining Classic feature. While the Watch 5 series is available in standard and Pro variants, neither features the rotating bezel longtime Samsung wearable fans love. It seems like the Watch 6 will change that, with the higher-end Watch 6 bringing back the clicky, movable bezel that was missing from the Watch 5 series. We first heard this in March, from Korean YouTuber Super Roader. Super Roader also said that, like the Watch 4 Classic, the premium Watch 6 variant will be available in two sizes. The current Galaxy Watch 5 Pro only comes in one size.
In April, Ice Universe tweeted that not only will the "top model" Watch 6 feature a rotating bezel, but that that bezel will be "rather narrow." In May, leaker OnLeaks shared images of the purported Watch 6 Classic, showing a rotating bezel that does indeed look a little narrower than the one found on 2021's Watch 4 Classic.
In June, Winfuture shared some renders of both the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and the standard Galaxy Watch 6. In the Classic renders, we can see two colorways — black and silver.
These renders don't tell us much we didn't know from the images we saw in May, but they do show off the additional silver colorway and a previously unseen watch face. They also more clearly show the red accent on the watch's top button.
Winfuture also shared renders of the regular Watch 6 in three colors: black, silver, and a sort of beige-gold. Contrary to an earlier report that said it'd have a "curved glass design," the watch's display appears to be flat.
The Watch 6 series could be in for some modest internal upgrades. Judging by information from Korean regulators (spotted by Dutch-language publication Galaxy Club), it looks like the 40mm Watch 6's battery will have a rated capacity of 295mAh, and the 44mm model will come with 412mAh. The like sizes of the existing Watch 5 have 284 and 410mAh battery cells, respectively, which means the Watch 6 could see modest battery life improvements — though real-life gains could be more pronounced, given other new hardware.
While Watch 4 and Watch 5 devices all used the same chipset — Samsung's Exynos W920 — the Watch 6 series looks set to debut a new Exynos chipset, the W980. Per a report from SamMobile, the W980 represents a 10 percent bump in speed from the W920. Hardly night and day, but existing Wear OS Galaxy Watches are already plenty snappy, so any improvement at all is good news. It remains to be seen if the new chipset will also help enable longer battery life.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Software
Samsung has confirmed that its upcoming Galaxy Watch 6 devices will launch with One UI 5 Watch, a brand-new version of its wearable software. We haven't seen a whole lot of One UI 5 Watch yet, but we know that it'll be built on Google's Wear OS 4, and that it'll offer new health and fitness features.
One UI 5 Watch's Heart Rate Zone feature shown on a Galaxy Watch 5.
There'll be new sleep coaching features designed to help you get a better night's sleep, plus an exercise feature that assigns Fitbit-style Heart Rate Zones (Zone 1 is "Warm up," Zone 2 is "Fat burn," Zone 3 is "Cardio," and so on) to your activity based on your heart rate. One UI 5 Watch is also tweaking the One UI Watch emergency SOS system to allow Galaxy Watches to automatically contact emergency services in the event of a fall.
The Watch 6 series should also debut a new feature that alerts users to heart beat irregularities while at rest, sending an alert that lets you know when your heart rate is well above or below its normal range when you're not exercising.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6: Release window and pricing
Samsung hasn't confirmed when its upcoming smartwatches will be available, but we've got a general idea. We expect the company's annual Galaxy Unpacked event to take place in late July, unveiling the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5. Considering the Watch 5 series was revealed at Galaxy Unpacked 2022 in August last year and made available for purchase a couple of weeks later, it seems highly likely we're looking at a similar timeline for this generation, with availability beginning in August. And while the devices' recently surfaced FCC filings don't point to a specific release date, that they exist at all is a good sign we could start seeing more official info soon.
While we don't have a lot to go on about US pricing yet, French-language publication Dealabs has shared what it believes to be French pricing for the Watch 6 series. The standard 40mm version will supposedly go for €319.99, while the 4G-enabled model will cost €369.99. The larger 44mm model should cost €349.99 and €399.99 for standard and LTE versions, respectively.
Dealabs goes on to say the 43mm Watch 6 Classic should go for €419.99 and the 47mm for €449.99. LTE connectivity in either will add €50. That translates to a €20 increase from the Watch 5 to the Watch 6, but if this pricing is accurate, it also means the Watch 6 Classic will be less expensive than this generation's Watch 5 Pro.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5
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- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
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