14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung is expected to launch two new smartwatches this year, and while such an unveiling isn’t necessarily surprising given the company refreshes its product lineup annually, the more interesting tidbit concerns the operating system that will power the devices.
According to people familiar with the matter and leaks that have been making the headlines lately, Samsung’s new smartwatches going live this year would give up on Tizen for Wear OS, a change which for the South Koreans is something massive.
Samsung has been investing in Tizen for years, all in an attempt to make it a worthy platform for a wider variety of product categories, including smartwatches, but if these leaks are accurate, then the company could finally be prepared to make the switch to Wear OS.
New smartwatch codenames
And according to information published by GalaxyClub, the two new smartwatches are internally called Wise and Fresh, and while they could both be different versions of the same model, it’s not known right now if they are running Wear OS or not.
Fresh is seen as a hint of the switch from Tizen to Wear OS, though that’s just an assumption for now and more information is likely to reach the web in this regard in the coming months.
Samsung moving to Wear OS would also give Google’s wearable platform a substantial boost, especially because at this point, the smartwatch operating system is yet to get the traction the search giant originally expected.
With the acquisition of Fitbit, Google is also expected to launch its own smartwatch, though the details in this regard are currently missing. But of course, Google joining the Wear OS device market would totally make sense, especially as the company has previously explored such a product with a highly anticipated Pixel watch that got killed off at the very last minute before launch.