Samsung has promised this year’s Galaxy Watch will carry an innovative design, hinting at a shake-up of the long-time Apple Watch rival.
In its most recent earnings call, Samsung outlined parts of its product roadmap for the rest of the year, including new foldables and wearables.
In comments translated by SeekingAlpha, Samsung said: “For wearables, we will expand our market presence with a strengthened premium experience while expanding our lineup across all price segments. We plan to launch a new Galaxy Watch with an innovative design and enhanced health-related features.”
The improved health-related features could refer to some holy grail features the company has been striving to innovate across many years. The company has long-sought non-invasive blood glucose monitoring and built-in continuous blood pressure tracking that’d supersede its rivals in the best smartwatch stakes.
“If we can do continuous blood pressure and glucose, we’re in a whole different ballgame. I think that’s where everyone is trying to get to,” said mobile digital health boss Hon Pak in 2024.
“We are looking at everything from miniaturisation to the various different technology platforms that can do some type of glucose monitoring or anything in between.”
Away from wearables, Samsung also made some interesting comments regarding its foldables line, essentially confirming an more affordable device “FE” style device is on the way.
“Looking across the MX division for our upcoming new foldable devices, we are enhancing the performance, design and durability while also optimising AI functionality to offer a differentiated user experience,” Samsung added. “We plan to strengthen our product lineup in order to create new demand and expand our affordable customer base.”
Opinion
What can be done to shake up the smartwatch design? That’s not entirely clear. It’s a watch. It’s got a strap, it’s got a face. Perhaps we’ll see Samsung stray away from a circular display, for a more Apple Watch-like design?
Perhaps the display technology itself will change? At CES 2025, Samsung Display showed off a beautiful smartwatch concept rocking a Micro LED display. We’re likely to find out for sure at an Unpacked event during the summer.
