Galaxy Watch Active 4 specs leak with Wear OS and a new chip

By Ewdison Then/

Wear OS was at the center of attention on Google's first day of I/O 2021. It promised to breathe new life into the wearable platform with some help from Fitbit, which it practically owns, and the surprise appearance of Samsung. The latter will, of course, reap the benefits of that collaboration in its upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4, the latter of which just got a leak that shows other interesting aspects of the sporty smartwatch beyond its OS.

The leak comes from trusted tipster @Ice universe who amusingly calls the OS that will run on the Galaxy Watch 4 "TizenWear OS". He says it will be the OS that integrates Tizen OS with Wear OS, which is probably more like a One UI 3.x skin on top of Wear OS. We'll have to wait and see if that integration will go beyond just appearances and include apps.

According to the tipster, the Galaxy Watch Active 4 will use 2D glass, not 2.5D as it used to. This very flat design, along with narrower bezels, could give it a less sporty appearance compared to previous "Active" Galaxy Watches. That said, the expected titanium alloy frame will still give it the same ruggedness along with what Ice universe describes as "excellent texture".

Perhaps the most interesting part is a new 5nm processor, the first time Samsung will be changing its smartwatch chip since the first Galaxy Watch in 2018. Wear OS, after all, is not known for running on Samsung Exynos chips but the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+ doesn't exactly fit that bill either. What this new chip will be will definitely be a topic for discussion.

Samsung is expected to launch a classic Galaxy Watch 4 and two models of the Galaxy Watch Active 4. There isn't yet a date for Samsung's new smartwatches but fans from both sides of the wearable fence will most likely be keeping a lookout for its announcement because of both the OS and hardware changes they will bring.

Recommended