14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung launched its latest smartwatch, the Gear S, which comes with a round display, a few weeks ago. But according to freshly-squeezed information, the company is already working on an upcoming model. What, another one?
We feel your pain. In the wake of the Apple Watch, Samsung is probably feeling the pressure to the bone, so it has quickly gone back to the drawing board.
In the last 12 months, Samsung launched the Galaxy Gear, Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, Gear Live, and culminated with the Gear S, which we have to say looks like the best flower to be plucked from the garden.
A new smartwatch is coming in 2015
Anyway, according to Business Week Korea, which has apparently talked to a “high-ranking officer at Samsung Electronics,” it appears that Sammy is working on a new smartwatch that will feature a fingerprint sensor security lock and a payment solution.
The fingerprint sensor will probably have security purposes and we’re not at all surprised that the company plans to embed it into its smartwatches. After all, some of its smartphones and tablets have already received this treatment, so the next logical step is towards smartwatches.
As for the payment solution, Samsung is rumored to be working in close proximity with PayPal, which has been looking for a window to penetrate the mobile payment space for some time now. Anyway, the solution is expected to be made available in up to 50 nations worldwide.
According to the source, the new smartwatch will be ready in time to be launched at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress in 2015. Samsung unveiled at this year’s event the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, the first smartwatches in its line to take advantage of the Tizen platform.
Samsung is taking after the Apple iWatch
It makes sense that Samsung would be working towards implementing a payment system into its future smartwatches. After all, Apple’s Watch is also some kind of a wallet.
The wearable works with Apple Pay, so thanks to the system, you won’t have to take your credit card out of your pocket at the cash register to pay for your groceries.
After adding your MasterCard, Visa, or American Express cards to your wallet via iTunes, you can then proceed to make payments with up to 220,000 retailers.
Anyway, for the time being, you can pre-order the Gear S smartwatch, which is quite unique on the market due to its abilities of acting like a standalone device, allowing users to place phone calls without a smartphone being involved.