Thursday, June 23, 2022

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Release Date, Price, Rumors, and more

Samsung released its Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic back in August 2021, meaning they’re both nearly a year old now. Still, we think they’re still one of the best smartwatches you can buy right now. As torch-bearers of Google’s new Wear OS 3, both the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic had a lot to offer. But it’s 2022 now which means there’s a new model on the horizon — the rumored Galaxy Watch 5. We’re still a couple of months away from the official unveiling but we already know a lot about the new watch. So let’s catch up on some of the leaks, rumors, and pretty much everything we know about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Watch.

Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning that we’re simply taking a look at all the leaked and rumored information about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Watch models. Pretty much everything you are about to read is unofficial or speculative information unless mentioned otherwise. We’ll continue to update this particular page over time as we have relevant details, so keep your eyes peeled.

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Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 models

Samsung launched two variants in the Galaxy Watch 4 series last year, but it looks like we’re getting an additional model this year. That’s right, Samsung appears to be readying as many as three Galaxy Watches this year. The sources familiar with Samsung’s plans have revealed three codenames — Heart-S (model SM-R90x), Heart-L (model SM-R91x), plus a third model: Heart-Pro (SM-R92x).

The first two models appear to be the standard variant of the Galaxy Watch 5 in two different sizes. The Heart-Pro variant with model number SM-R92x is said to be the more premium Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Samsung may end up calling it something entirely different. If we were to guess, we think it’ll be called the Galaxy Watch 5 Ultra, akin to the Ultra models of the Galaxy smartphone and the tablet. It will reportedly come in only one size but we suggest you take that info with a pinch of salt. There’s no official confirmation on this, but it looks like Samsung will drop the ‘Classic’ branding from this year’s premium Galaxy Watch in favor of this ‘Pro’ or the ‘Ultra’ moniker.

If the leaks are something to go by, then it looks like the smaller Galaxy Watch 5 will have a 40mm case and it’ll be available to purchase in Phantom Black, Silver, and Pink Gold color options. The larger version of the Galaxy Watch 5 is said to have a 44mm case, but this one’s said to be available in Phantom Black, Silver, and Sapphire colors instead of the Pink Gold. Lastly, there’s the rumored Galaxy Watch 5 Pro variant that’s expected to have a 46mm case. It looks like this variant, however, will only be available in Phantom Black and Silver color options.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro: Pricing & Availability

We haven’t heard much about the pricing of the Galaxy Watch 5 series, but we can make some educated guesses based on the Galaxy Watch 4 series’ prices. Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch 4 at $250 for the 40mm version, with an option to spend as much as $330 on the 42mm version with LTE. The Classic variants all cost $100 more.

We expect the standard variant of the Galaxy Watch 5 to cost the same as the non-Classic Watch 4 models. You can expect to see some slight variation but we doubt if the Galaxy Watch 5 series will see a major price difference compared to the Watch 4 series. The new rumored “pro” variant is likely to cost more, though. It could even be more expensive than the 46mm variant of the Watch 4 Classic. We say that because the Watch 5 Pro is rumored to be fitted with sapphire glass and titanium casing. The Apple Watch Series 7 with a titanium case and even some of the Garmin watches with sapphire glass cost around $800.


As for the release date and availability, popular tipster Jon Prosser has given us tentative timelines for the Galaxy Watch 5 release date. According to Prosser, Samsung will announce the new Galaxy Watch 5 at an event on August 10 alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4. It looks like we’ll be able to pre-order the new watches the same day but they won’t ship until August 26.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro: Specifications

The last year’s Galaxy Watch 4 series was a huge improvement from its predecessors in terms of performance. The Galaxy Watch 4 series models are also fitted with better sensors to make them more useful. This means there’s a good chance of Samsung offering the Galaxy Watch 5 series as an iterative upgrade. There’s not a lot of leaked info or rumors when it comes to the internal hardware of the upcoming Galaxy Watches, but it looks like they’ll use the same chipset as last year’s watch.

The Galaxy Watch 5 series models are expected to be powered by the same Exynos W920 chip that we saw last year. There’s no official confirmation on this, of course, but it’s likely to be the case given how Samsung used the same Exynos 9110 chip for the first three generations of Galaxy Watches. We’re also expecting the Watch 5 series to have the same amount of RAM and storage — 1.5GB memory and 16GB internal storage. It’s safe to assume that we may not see a significant upgrade over the Galaxy Watch 4 series this year. That being said, the rumored “Pro” model could pack a few surprises, but we’re yet to learn anything meaningful about this particular variant.

All the leaked information so far points toward bigger batteries this time around for the new watches. The smaller Galaxy Watch 5 model is said to ship with a rated battery capacity of 276mAh, whereas the larger Galaxy Watch 5 is expected to use a 398mAh battery.  The rumored Galaxy Watch 5 “Pro” is said to offer a massive upgrade in the battery department, coming in at a 572mAh battery. Notably, Samsung is also said to offer 10W fast charging support on the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. While that may not seem too fast, it’s nearly double what’s currently offered by the Galaxy Watch 4 series. Overall, it looks like the Galaxy Watch 5 series will offer big improvements in the battery department.

As for the sensors, we expect the Galaxy Watch 5 series models to retain the same 3-in-1 BioActive sensor with support for optical heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure, ECG, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. There were some rumors about the Galaxy Watch 5 rocking an infrared thermometer to track your skin temperature, but those claims were contradicted by the popular analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stating that Samsung might not use them due to algorithmic limitations.

Other details about the new watches are still murky, but we expect to learn more about them in the coming weeks. We’ll update this specifications section with a fully fleshed-out specs table as soon as we have more concrete information, so check back for more.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro: Design

Samsung is expected to retain the same circular watch face for the Galaxy Watch 5 series. However, the company is all but confirmed to abandon its Classic design for new watches. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, for those that don’t know, has a more traditional design with a stylish look and fan-favorite rotating bezel for navigating through the UI. With the absence of a Classic variant, it remains to be whether or not the Galaxy Watch 5 series will get the rotating bezel. It could still be a part of the rumored “pro” model, but we’ll refrain from speculating further in this regard.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, Watch 4

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 3

We’ve already discussed the different Galaxy Watch 5 models and the case sizes above in the ‘Models’ section, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. Besides that, we expect the new Galaxy Watch 5 series watches to share some other traits with its predecessors like the IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, MIL-STD-810G protection, support for GPS, NFC, and more. The new watches are also likely to sport a Super AMOLED display, but that’s pretty much what we know so far about these watches.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro: Software

Galaxy Watch 4 Classic next to the Galaxy Watch Active 2

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic next to the Galaxy Watch Active 2

Samsung ditched its home-grown Tizen software in favor of Google’s Wear OS 3. The Galaxy Watch 4 series run a heavily-customized interface, changing almost the entire look and feel of the software. We suggest you read our dedicated article about the software experience to know all the details. As for the software on the Watch 5 series, we’re expecting the Wear OS 3 to make a comeback, complete with support for Google Assistant. It’ll be interesting to see how the Wear OS 3 software on the Watch 5 will end up being different from the one that runs on Google’s Pixel Watch that’s also scheduled to come out later this year.

Our wishlist for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series: What we want to see in the next smartwatch series

We didn’t have too many gripes with the Galaxy Watch 4 series, but we can think of many ways in which Samsung can improve the upcoming watches. Since the product development cycle is in fairly advanced stage by now, we don’t expect these to get fulfilled. But anyway, here’s our wishlist for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series:

Better battery life

The Galaxy Watch 5 series models are likely to get bigger batteries but there’s no official confirmation on the same just yet. We hope the new models will have bigger batteries that’ll allow us to go multiple days without having to worry about charging. It would be nice to have a Galaxy Watch 5 that lasts for more than two days with all the useful features such as sleep tracking enabled. It’s obviously not that easy to cram a massive battery inside a tiny device like a smartwatch, but we wouldn’t count on anyone but Samsung to innovate in this space. It’s also a nice segue to our next wishlist — faster and more convenient charging.

Support for Qi wireless charging

In case you’re wondering, no, the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic do not support Qi wireless charging. This means that only very specific Samsung wireless chargers can charge them, making it that much more difficult to top up their batteries. The new watches are rumored to support faster charging, but we hope Samsung will allow us to charge them with any Qi wireless chargers too. That by itself could be enough for many to upgrade to the new watch from their existing Galaxy Watch 4 models.

Better quality band out of the box

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is one of the best-looking smartwatches out there right now. We’ve got a lot of good things to say about the design of the watch itself, but not so much about the band that’s bundled with it. You can always visit our best Galaxy Watch 4 bands collection to find some good alternatives, but we think Samsung should consider adding a better quality band out of the box. It doesn’t have to be an expensive one to spruce up the look, but anything that looks and feels good in the hand than the current ones would do.

Ability to use more health monitoring features with other phones

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 offers a lot of great features including ECG and blood pressure monitoring. However, those features will only work with a Samsung phone. There’s no particular reason why these features — if they’re available in your country — won’t work on other Android phones. Opening up all the life-saving health monitoring features outside of Samsung phones will make the upcoming Galaxy Watch 5 series even better. You shouldn’t need to use a modded Samsung Health app just to use the Watch with non-Samsung devices.

A watch face builder

The customization options are fairly limited when it comes to the watch faces on the Galaxy Watch 4 series. Sure, you can add a lot of different watch faces to your device but you know what would be nice? A custom watch face builder. Being able to create custom watch faces within the companion app for the Galaxy Watch 5 would be a solid addition. It’ll add more creative ways for the Galaxy Watch 5 users to customize their watch and truly make it their own.

Ability to share and complete activities with friends

While there are some reservations around the idea of gamifying activities and exercising, there’s no doubt that it adds an element of fun. Being able to share our activity with friends pushes us to do more, and do it every day. Fitbit and Apple Watch are perhaps the best in the business when it comes to the gamification of health and exercising. You get rewarded for hitting your milestone, receive notifications about daily activity goals, and more. We want to see something similar from Samsung this time around with the Galaxy Watch 5 series.

Wider availability of features

Lastly, it’d be nice to see a wider rollout/availability of features. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, for instance, doesn’t support Samsung Pay with NFC in India. Similarly, the Galaxy Watch 4 doesn’t support blood pressure monitoring in the US. We assume a lot of these features are locked in certain regions due to the local regulatory approvals, but it would be great to see the Galaxy Watch 5 be the device that finally brings a wider rollout of features to offer a similar user experience.

Closing Thoughts

We’re still a couple of months away from the official unveiling of the Galaxy Watch 5. We’ll continue to update this page with more details leading up to the launch, so stay tuned for more info. In the meantime, share your thoughts on the Galaxy Watch 5 series with us. Are you looking forward to the new rumored Galaxy Watch 5 “Pro” variant or will you be sticking with the standard one? Let us know by dropping a line in the comments below.

The post Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Release Date, Price, Rumors, and more appeared first on XDA.



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