With the Samsung Galaxy Watch nearing its market launch in the US, eagerness among the potential customers is sky-high. The watch looks impressive enough to prove a worthy alternative to the market-leader Apple Watch Series 3. But is it compelling enough for you to go for it over the Apple Watch? Read through the detailed comparison below and find it out by yourself.
You can also read our detailed comparison between the Galaxy Watch and its predecessor, Gear S3.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Vs Apple Watch Series 3
Design and size
Design is something that plays an important role while buying a smartwatch, and these two watches offer completely different designs. Samsung has continued with its traditional circular display and the patented rotating bezel for navigation. Apple Watch, on the other hand, offers a rectangular bezel and crown for control.
Both the watches come in two different sizes and multiple color options. The Galaxy Watch is available in 42mm and 46mm display size, and in three colors; rose gold and midnight black for the 42mm version, and silver for the 46mm model. Apple Watch is also available in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm, with either an aluminium or stainless-steel bezel in gold, rose gold, silver and black color options.
Specifications
The Galaxy Watch (46mm) packs a 1.3-inch 360 x 360 AMOLED touchscreen display panel protected by Corning Gorilla® DX+ glass. The 42mm model sports a smaller 1.2-inch screen with same spec, resolution and protection. The Apple Watch, meanwhile, sports a rectangular OLED Retina Display of 340×272 resolution.
Inside the Galaxy Watch is a Samsung Exynos 9110 Dual core 1.15GHz processor, supported by 768MB RAM (1.5GB in LTE version) and 4GB of internal storage. As for Apple Watch, it is powered by S3 dual-core processor with aSTMicro ST33G1M2 MCU (up to 70% faster than the previous S2), supported by 768MB RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
Battery life
Samsung watches never disappoint in terms of battery life and the Galaxy Watch is no exception. The 46mm Galaxy Watch packs a 472mAh battery, which the company claims to offer up to 80 hours of normal usage. The smaller, 42mm model houses a 270mAh battery offering up to 45 hours of normal usage. The Apple Watch packs a 279mAh Li-ion battery which provides up to 18 hours of back-up on normal usage.
Operating System
The Samsung Galaxy Watch is powered by the Tizen OS, which is still a relatively new operating system. The platform lacks big-time in app support compared to the Watch OS running Apple Watch. However, this shouldn’t be a big issue, as watches are not meant for using a wide range of apps, and you’ll get all the basic smartwatch apps on Tizen as well.
The big upper-hand Tizen has over WatchOS is that it is compatible with both Android smartphones and iPhones. Apple smartwatches, meanwhile, can only be used by iPhone owners.
Features
Feature-wise, there’s no big difference between the two watches. Both the watches offer a plethora of smart features we expect from our smart devices these days. Both the watches are water resistant up to 50 meters and come with all the basic sensors. You will also be able to stream music in both watches if you have the cellular version of them.
Both Galaxy Watch and Apple Watch support NFC for mobile payment via Samsung Pay and Apple Pay respectively. The watches also come with a digital assistant, Bixby in Galaxy Watch and Siri in Apple Watch. Samsung has added 21 new indoor exercises to the Galaxy Watch, taking the total to 39 different workouts. However, this still do not give any advantage to the watch as Apple Watch also boasts a plenty of fitness-focused features.
Price and availability
The Galaxy Watch costs $329.99 for 42mm model and $349.99 for the 46mm one. This is similar to that of Apple Watch, which costs $329 for the 38mm model, and $359 for 42mm. However, the price goes up when you add a cellular option, with the LTE-enabled 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch costing $399 and $429 respectively. We don’t yet have pricing information for the LTE version of the Galaxy Watch, but it’s likely to be in the similar range to that of Apple Watch.
Pre-orders for the Galaxy Watch are open, with sales beginning on August 24 in the US. South Korea will get the watch on August 31, followed by a worldwide release on September 14.
