The Samsung Galaxy Watch4 may be announced tonight during the MWC. This new smart watch from Samsung runs on Google's Wear OS and therefore no longer under its own Tizen. The two have merged and we can see the first fruits of that in these published renders.
For years, Samsung used the Tizen operating system but during the past Google I/O, Google announced that Wear OS and Tizen are going to merge. The first Samsung watch that will make use of this is this Galaxy Watch4. Samsung managed to keep images of the watch a secret for a long time but just before the fall they leaked out via 91mobiles
At first glance the Watch4 seems a bit more refined than the Watch3 with a narrower bezel. However, this seems to be optical as the entire front is now glass. According to the source and earlier rumors, the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 will come in 2 sizes; 40 and 44 mm. The Active version is dropped, making the Watch Active2 the last of its kind. There are still 2 buttons on the right, while the casing on the left is free of buttons. A rotating bezel, something that Samsung used to come up with, is nowhere to be found.
The real surprise of the Watch4: the processor
Of course, the watches are water and dust resistant, you can swim with it (5ATM) and it is robustly equipped with a MIL-STD 810G specification. Google already indicated that Samsung will use a new version of Wear OS but the real surprise will be the processor. Wear OS watch manufacturers relied on Qualcomm for years but it gave little priority to chipsets for smartwatches. Samsung on the other hand made its own chipsets but those watches on the other hand run Tizen.
With Google and Samsung joining forces, Wear OS watches may well gain access to Exynos chipsets with accompanying optimizations. This could result in a huge speed gain, something that Wear OS watches have been lacking. For example, Wear OS watches are significantly slower than the Apple Watch. In addition to more speed, we also expect longer battery life. The announcement of the Watch 4 is Monday, June 28 at 19:00 Dutch time.
