Samsung might well be on its way to retire the “Gear” brand of its smartwatches. A recent trademark filing by the company suggest that its going in a new direction for branding its wearable devices. The company has trademarked the “Galaxy Watch” and “Galaxy Fit” names at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), presumably for use in its future endeavours in wearables.
Samsung Galaxy Watch
The current crop of Samsung wearables, like wireless earbuds, smartwatches, and fitness bands, all have the word “Gear” somewhere in their title. Its a name the company has been using for years now. However, the new filings at USPTO suggest that it might change now. And it’s probably a sensible move too. The company has been using the Galaxy branding for its smartphones and tablets, and there’s every reason for the company to unify the brand and bring wearable devices under the same umbrella as well.
Samsung now owns the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Fit monikers. However, it’s not a confirmation that the company would use them too. It could just be that Samsung is filing the trademarks now in order to place a hold on the name, without actually having a product in the pipeline. But in all probability, Samsung has plans to ditch the Gear name in favour of Galaxy, at least for its smartwatches and fitness bands. And if this happens soon, the upcoming Gear S4 might well turn out to be the first Samsung Galaxy Watch. The LTE variants of the watch are currently being tested in the US.
The Gear titled Samsung wearables run on the Tizen OS. Whether or not the shift to the Galaxy brand means that the company will be ditching the Tizen OS in favor of Wear OS for its upcoming wearables remains a mystery for now. We might hear something about it at the IFA 2018 convention in Berlin this August. Stay tuned.
