[Editorial] A New Era of Smartwatch Innovation Starts Here

The smartwatch is an empowering tool. It connects us with the people we care about, gives us immediate access to a wealth of information, and helps us to better manage and understand our health – all from our wrists. As the role smartwatches play in our everyday lives continues to evolve, recent market data shows that wearables were one of the fastest growing device categories during the pandemic.

As a leading innovator in mobile experiences, Samsung constantly pursues new ways to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers. That’s why we decided to team up with Google, our long-standing strategic partner, to bring the best of our platforms together into one unified experience. As Head of the Software Development Team, I am thrilled to bring Samsung’s longstanding expertise in wearables to this joint effort in creating a blueprint for innovative future smartwatch experiences.

Creating an Enhanced Smartwatch Experience

The Galaxy Watch is already loved by users around the world with our signature designs, cool watch-face ecosystem, and innovative health platform. The great experiences that consumers loved on previous Galaxy smartwatches will continue on this unified platform. Samsung implemented our best technology to provide optimized performances, and advanced sensor batching and low power display technology to ensure an efficient and long-lasting battery.

We know that health and wellness are at the forefront of consumers’ minds, and we’re excited to continue building the industry-leading health experience on our new unified platform with Google. As our consumers turn to wearable technology to monitor their wellbeing, we’re meeting these needs head on. By creating world-class health technology, we hope to elevate how users approach to their wellbeing, and enable them to make positive changes in their everyday lives.

At Samsung, we have long focused on creating the best possible connected experiences between Galaxy smartwatches and smartphones, working in perfect harmony together. This new platform is the next step in that mission and we’re looking forward to giving consumers the best mobile experience.

Inspiring Innovation Through an Extensive Connected Ecosystem

Behind every great user experience is a thriving developer ecosystem. With the new unified platform, we are unlocking a whole world of opportunities for the developer community. With a broad, open ecosystem, more developers and partners can apply their talents to work with us in evolving and redefining the smartwatch experience.

Our hope is that this platform will ignite innovation in spaces like the Galaxy Watch Studio and inspire third party development, bringing a bigger and better network of apps to benefit Galaxy users around the world. This is the chance for developers to take advantage of Samsung’s powerful network of connected devices and the growing set of global Galaxy smartwatch fans.

Continued Commitment to Existing Galaxy Smartwatch Users

At Samsung, we always put customers at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we are committed to bringing them the best possible smartwatch experiences. For customers who already own the Tizen OS based Galaxy smartwatches, we are continuing to provide at least three years of software support after the product launch.

We’re excited to bring a new, powerful, and refined smartwatch experience to our users in the coming months – and long into the future. So watch this space, there’s more coming soon.

(This article is authored by Janghyun Yoon, EVP and Head of S/W Platform Team)