Samsung stopped making Android smartwatches a while ago, the Gear Live last announced in 2014 – when Wear OS was called Android Wear. It then turns on its own Tizen OS and has not looked back since. That may change, however, as the South Korean company’s next smartwatch will reportedly use Google’s Wear OS or its own UI on Android.
This development comes from Ice universe, which does not share any additional information about a particular upcoming watch. The people at Galaxy Club states that Samsung is working on two devices with the model numbers SM-R86x and SM-R87x. They speculate that they may be part of the Galaxy Watch Active 3 or 4 series. Since the regular Galaxy Watch series was already updated last year, it would make sense for the following models to come with Active brands.
The rumored Samsung Wear OS watch may be a successor to the Galaxy Watch Active2.
Samsung and Google have been sharpening lately, and the Galaxy S21 series is proof of this. The phones replaced Samsung’s SMS app with Google Messages and even gave users the option to have Google’s Discover feed left of their home screens. Last year, both companies worked together to make their smart home products more interoperable as well. There have even been reports that Google has convinced Samsung to abandon Bixby and the Samsung App Store. However, this has not yet materialized.
Over the years, Samsung’s Tizen OS for smartwatches has been refined to provide an experience better than most Wear OS watches, especially in terms of power efficiency and performance – something Corbin noted in his review of the Galaxy Watch3 . If the next Galaxy Watch Wear OS or a new custom version of Android is accepted, it remains to be seen if Samsung can offer a good experience.
If the rumor does come up, it could be a shot in the arm that Wear OS desperately needs.
