Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Smartwatch May Run On Android

It has been revealed in multiple reports recently that Samsung has a new smartwatch in the pipeline. Some reports have even claimed that the company is going to ditch the “Gear” branding for its smartwatch and launch it as the Galaxy Watch instead. It may also be the first Samsung smartwatch in many years to run on Wear OS, an iteration of Google’s mobile operating system that was previously referred to as Android Wear.

Samsung hasn’t made an Android Wear-powered smartwatch since 2014 when it released the Gear Live. All other wearable devices that it has released since then have been powered by its Tizen operating system.

A new report out of China claims that Samsung is now developing a smartwatch that’s going to be powered by Wear OS and not Tizen. It’s not clear, though, if Samsung will keep this product separate from its Tizen-powered lineup or of it’s going to make a permanent switch to Wear OS for its smartwatches.

The possibility that Samsung might launch two smartwatches later this year hasn’t been rolled out as well. One may be powered by Tizen while the other run on Wear OS. Samsung has made considerable investments in Tizen over the past few years so it doesn’t make sense at this point in time for the company to immediately ditch it as the operating system for its smartwatches.

More clarity on this can be expected in the coming months. Samsung isn’t expected to launch the new smartwatch until August at the very least.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Galaxy Watch, Samsung, wear OS