Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 4 series at its 2021 Galaxy Unpacked event in August, and they were the first devices to come preloaded with the latest Wear OS 3.0 software update. The smartwatches brought many improvements to the software with new features, improvements and improvements. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series proved to be quite popular and the company has reportedly managed to ship a lot of devices.
The latest Galaxy Watch 5 series of smartwatches will reportedly come with improved battery life, new features and slightly modified designs. Before we proceed, please note that none of the information shown has been confirmed and things could change in the coming weeks leading up to the announcement.
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Price & Availability
The Galaxy Watch 5 series is expected to launch in mid-August along with the new foldable flagships Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Galaxy Watch 5 series will reportedly consist of the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
| Fashion model | Mate | variant | Rumors Prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| galaxy watch 5 | 40mm | Bluetooth | €300 |
| galaxy watch 5 | 40mm | LTE | €350 |
| galaxy watch 5 | 44mm | Bluetooth | €350 |
| galaxy watch 5 | 44mm | LTE | €400 |
| Galaxy Watch 5 Pro | 45mm | Bluetooth | €490 |
| Galaxy Watch 5 Pro | 45mm | LTE | € 540 |
We previously reported on the price of the new smartwatches, which appears to be higher than the Galaxy Watch 4 series. The standard 40mm Bluetooth version of the Galaxy Watch 5 will reportedly cost €300 (~$315), while the 45mm Bluetooth version of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro could start at €490 (~$515).
colors
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is rumored to come in three colors for the smaller 40mm version: rose gold, gray and silver. The larger 44mm model will reportedly be available in blue, gray and silver colours.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is rumored to be available in only two colors: black and titanium. The new colors for the Galaxy Watch 5 series are in line with our expectations, although we could see exclusive editions and new colors appearing exclusively on the Samsung website. Samsung also launched a unique Thom Browne Edition Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatches, and we could see a similar collaboration this year.
Design
There will be three models of the Galaxy Watch 5 series, a standard Galaxy Watch 5, a larger model of the same device and a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro device (SM-R90x, SMR91x and SM-R92x, respectively). The smaller watch will be 40mm, while its bigger brother will be 44mm. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is sold in a single size, 45mm.
The Galaxy Watch 5 series will keep the round dial and we’re unlikely to see any drastic design changes. It is rumored that Samsung will abandon the Classic series in favor of a new model, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. It remains to be seen if the Pro watch will carry the rotating bezel, though some rumors claim Samsung won’t be bringing it back this year. Suppose the rotating bezel doesn’t make a comeback. In that case, we expect the company to include a side face or capacitive watch face that we’ve seen on previous Galaxy Watch Active smartwatches.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series is expected to inherit features from the Galaxy Watch 4 series such as IP68 water and dust resistance, MIL-STD-810G military protection, Samsung Pay, NFC, GPS and unique Samsung features. These features can enhance the experience when used with the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Z Fold 4 and Galaxy S series smartphones.
As for specs, no information has been leaked before and we don’t know anything about the screen size, technology, RAM, storage, and even the chipset that will power the watches.
Health features
The Galaxy Watch 5 series retains most of the same sensors as last year’s Galaxy Watch 4 series. The watches come with the same or improved 3-in-1 BioActive sensor that supports heart rate, EKG, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and blood oxygen monitoring. The new smartwatches will also retain the features of its predecessor. While we don’t have information about the latest and upcoming features, we expect improvements in sports modes, automatic tracking, and improvements in sleep tracking.
We had previously heard that the Galaxy Watch 5 series could be equipped with a new infrared thermometer sensor to monitor body temperature, but this was later confirmed it’s not true† Samsung has reportedly been working on it, but wasn’t ready to launch it in this year’s new smartwatches.
Performance and software
Samsung developed Wear OS 3.0 together with Google and was the first manufacturer to release new smartwatches with the new operating system. The new Galaxy Smartwatches rely on Wear OS 3.0 and are heavily adapted to the style of the Tizen user interface.
We don’t have information about the new software features and performance improvements, but we expect a lot of improvements to make the animations smoother and the battery lasts longer. We also expect the Galaxy Watch 5 series to fully support Google Assistant, which was recently released for the Galaxy Watch 4 devices. We’ve also compared Bixby to Google Assistant on the Galaxy Watch 4, in case you’re interested in how it works.
Battery
All signs indicate that we may see larger batteries in the coming watches. The smaller Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 will reportedly come with a 276mAh battery while the larger one will reportedly pack a 398mAh battery. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will reportedly have a large battery capacity of 572 mAh.
It is rumored that the new smartwatches will also offer 10W fast charging for all new smartwatches, which would almost double the charging speeds. Even Apple offers fast charging for its Apple smartwatches, and we’d like to be able to upgrade the device to a reasonable level in just 30 minutes where it can last for about a whole day without any problems.
What we want to see
- Better battery life: The Galaxy Watch 4 series is one of the best alternative smartwatches to the Apple Watches, but they aren’t impressive when it comes to battery endurance. We expect bigger batteries in the new Galaxy Watch 5 series and we hope Samsung manages to make significant improvements to make the new watches last longer on a single charge.
- Fast Charging: The new smartwatches are rumored to have a fast charge, which almost doubles the charging speed of the Galaxy Watch 4 series. We hope to see a 0-80% charge in a reasonable amount of time, which could help solve some of the problems of the smartwatches that don’t last as long as other competing smartwatches in the comparable price segment.
- Cross-platform health measurements: EKG and blood pressure monitoring is limited to Samsung devices. As a true alternative to the Apple Watch, we wish Samsung would allow these features to work on other Android smartphones. Smartwatches aim to be the best partner for measuring health and fitness activities, and we want Samsung to open up to other vendors.
- More customization: The Galaxy Watch 4 series is quite customizable and the Play Store contains thousands of great looking watch faces and watch faces. However, we want to see a new software tool that allows users to further customize their own watch faces and make it simple. We don’t expect this to please regular users, but it would be great to see for enthusiasts like us and experienced users.