Samsung makes some of the best smartwatches available, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 could be not just its best yet, but also the most exciting, with an assortment of huge upgrades rumored for the wearable.
Nothing is certain yet, but some of the most promising rumored changes look very likely to happen, so this is one watch that could be worth waiting for.
Below we’ve detailed the four biggest, most interesting and most exciting leaks surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 so far, and assessed how likely they are to happen. But we’re also likely to get plenty more rumors and leaks before the wearable launches (probably in August) so stick with TechRadar to stay in the loop.
1. It will likely run a new operating system
The biggest feature of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will probably have nothing to do with the hardware. Rather, it will probably be the operating system.
It’s been extensively rumored that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will run Wear OS rather than Tizen, and more recently it’s been officially revealed that Samsung has worked with Google to redesign Wear OS.
The two companies haven’t confirmed whether a Samsung smartwatch will use this overhauled software, but it certainly seems likely, especially as mentions of a Samsung device have also been spotted alongside the term ‘Wear OS’ in source code for the Samsung Galaxy S20.
We don’t know much about this new version of Wear OS yet, but reportedly it has a lot of Tizen’s DNA, so some aspects of the software may be similar to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. At the very least though we’d expect far more third-party apps to be available, which would solve one of the biggest issues we have with Samsung’s wearables.
2. It could be very powerful
Another huge feature we’ve heard about is the possibility of a new chipset. In smartphones it’s just expected that a new model will come with a new chipset, but Samsung has stuck with the same Exynos 9110 chipset in all of its Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active models to date.
That could all change with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 though, as it’s rumored to have a new 5nm chipset. For reference, the Exynos 9110 is 10nm, while the top chipset we’re seeing in current Wear OS watches is 12nm, and smaller numbers are better here, so this new one could give the wearable a huge power boost.
Technically, this chipset has only actually been linked to the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 4, but it’s very unlikely that the Active model would be more powerful than the standard Watch 4, and in all likelihood they’ll use the same chipset as each other.
3. It could be good for your health
Health and fitness are hugely important aspects of smartwatches, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 could expand its health toolkit with the addition of a glucometer.
This would allow you to measure your blood sugar – a feature which could be particularly useful for diabetics. But tracking this could also be handy for people with other health conditions, or just those who like to keep an eye on how their body is performing.
That said, while one report suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will have a glucometer, another has said it won’t, so we’re not sure whether this will be included or not.
4. It could borrow a feature from the Apple Watch
The Apple Watch range is Samsung’s biggest smartwatch rival, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Samsung might be including an Apple Watch feature in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.
A source suggests that the upcoming wearable will have a walkie-talkie feature, allowing you to send voice messages to friends, and that exact feature is available on Apple Watch, where it’s even called Walkie-Talkie.
We don’t know exactly how it would work on the Galaxy Watch 4 (if it lands at all), but on the Apple Watch, once you’ve enabled the feature and linked to a friend, you can start a Walkie-Talkie session at any time and then – if they accept the session – tap and hold the talk button to send them a voice message.
So you can only talk while the button is pressed – much like a walkie-talkie. This means it’s not great for lengthy conversations, but can be very useful for sending short messages.
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