We now have some idea of what the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will look like thanks to newly leaked details.
A tweet from leaker chunvn8888 claimed that up to four potential color options are coming for the next Samsung wearable, as well as shedding some light on the smartwatch's external and internal design.
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 release date, price, specs and leaks
- Find your new wearable with our best smartwatch guide
- Plus: Google Pixel 5a leaked by Android 12 — what we know so far
The leaker stated that the Galaxy Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 4 will look a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2. The new Galaxy Watch will again use a rotating bezel for navigating through its menus, while the Galaxy Watch Active will not.
The design of these watches was already attractive, but if you wanted an overhaul of these wearables, it sounds like you're out of luck.
The biggest development however comes at a software level. Both will apparently use Wear OS, Google's in-house wearables operating system, instead of Samsung's Tizen OS that previous Galaxy Watches have used.
The jury's still out on whether or not this is a smart move by Samsung. On the one hand, it's clever because it could mean a huge improvement to other watches using Wear OS, as Samsung could work to get apps available on the Tizen Store onto Google's wearable operating system. It could also Samsung's wearables more compatible with other Android phones.
But you can argue that the new OS will probably take a toll on the Galaxy Watch's battery life, and may even slow down or halt the rollout of new features by Samsung. You can read our takes in favor of WearOS and against WearOS to see the full picture.
As for color options, Chun claimed the smartwatches will share the same colors as "this year (sic) Galaxy Z." Looking to the current color rumors for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, it looks like black, green, beige and light violet options will be on the cards.
From previous rumors, it's said that the Galaxy Watch 4's new headline feature will be blood glucose monitoring to allow users, particularly those with diabetes, to keep an eye on their blood sugar level. We might also expect some iterative improvements to basic specs such as the watches' chipset, RAM and storage and battery capacity.
We'd expect the new Galaxy Watches to appear this fall. The Galaxy Watch 3 appeared in September last year at the same event as the Samsung Galaxy Note 20. However, with the Galaxy Note 21 looking like a no-show this year, the most sensible option seems to be that the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch Active 4 will debut alongside the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3.
The Galaxy Watch 3 sits in second place in our best smartwatch guide, only beaten by the Apple Watch 6. There's so much changing with the next-gen Galaxy Watches that it's hard to know if it'll let Samsung take the lead or cause it to drop severely in quality. We'll be eagerly waiting for the launch later this year to find out.
