Samsung is rumored to be switching from Tizen to Wear OS as its smartwatch software, starting with the Gear S4. There has been numerous reports supporting the claims. It began with Samsung trademarking the Galaxy Watch moniker some two weeks ago. Galaxy is, of course, a term we see in almost every Samsung smartphone, and all of them run Google’s Android. So a Galaxy Watch name largely suggests of a Samsung smartwatch running Google’s Wear OS.
Then came some reports from China, saying Samsung has already teamed up with Google for the development of a Wear OS-enabled smartwatch, to be launched in the coming months. Now popular leakster, Evan Blass (@evleaks), claims to have spotted Samsung smartwatches running Wear OS on the wrists of Samsung employees. Blass didn’t reveal any details on who, when and where, spotted the smartwatches, but we’re inclined to believe him considering his track record with leaks.
Seen on the wrists of Samsung employees: Gear watches running not Tizen, but Wear OS.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 23, 2018
Samsung testing Wear OS smartwatches
Samsung has previously used Android Wear (now Wear OS) for its first smartwatch, back in 2013. But it soon switched to Tizen OS, and never tried looking back. The company has committed significant amount of resources on the development of Tizen OS, which is by no means non-functional. It in fact offers some really nice features that Wear OS lacks. However, Tizen has always been poor with third-party app support, where Wear OS fares a lot-lot better, and this can be the reason Samsung wants a U-turn back to Android Wear OS or Wear OS as it is now called.
The next Samsung smartwatch is the Gear S4, which reportedly is being tested in the US. Everyone was genuinely hoping that the watch will indeed be called Samsung Gear S4. But the recent trademark by the company suggested it could be called the Samsung Galaxy Watch instead. Now with Evan Blass saying that Samsung has a Wear OS smartwatch lining-up for launch soon, there’s every possibility that it’s the same watch, Gear S4, but with an all new genesis.
There’s no report on if Samsung will abandon Tizen altogether, which don’t sound sensible either, or keep it to limited use. But the possibility of Samsung shaking-up its wearable lineup this year looks all more plausible now. We’re hoping to hear more (officially or unoffically ;-)) about all this at IFA 2018. The global event kicks-off on 31 August in Berlin, and also marks a year since the Gear Sport was launched. Stay tuned!
