Samsung announced a small stack of gadgets at this year’s Unpacked show. There were Galaxy Fold 5 and Flip 5 foldable phones, Galaxy Tab S9 tablets and the Galaxy Watch 6 series fitness watches.
If you were hoping for massive upgrades you’ll be disappointed. However, there are some important changes this year in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 that might just attract some folks who weren’t quite persuaded by the Galaxy Watch 5.
However, the basics are the same. These watches run Google’s Wear OS. They’ll track your runs and menstrual cycles, you can download additional apps and the clever heart rate sensor hardware will tell you if it notices any unusual heart behavior.
Today, though, I’m only interested in the key differences between the Galaxy Watch Series 5 and Galaxy Watch Series 6.
Classic model returns
The Galaxy Watch Classic line took a break last year. There was no Galaxy Watch 5 with a rotating bezel, which was once the calling card of Samsung “Classic” watches.
That line has returned, and so has the moving bezel. It’s used as an alterntative to, for example, the Apple Watch’s digital crown, and is a way to flick around the interface without obscuring the touchscreen.
You do have to pay more for it, though. It’s an extra $100 for the Classic over the standard Watch 6, with starting prices of $299 and $399.
The Classic models are also slighter larger, with a diameter of 43mm or 47mm, rather than 40mm or 44m in the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 6.
Larger screen, smaller bezel
Discount the larger Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and the new generation of watch gets you a larger screen for the same diameter casing.
The 44mm Galaxy Watch 5 has a 1.4-inch screen, the Galaxy Watch 6 a 1.46-inch one. You might guess this upgrade is all about increasing the visibility of what’s on-screen. Not really. By trimming down screen bezels, the Galaxy Watch looks slicker, and comes off slightly better in a direct comparison with the Apple Watch Series 8, which has very trim screen borders.
Slightly higher battery capacity
Battery capacity has improved slightly this year, but not enough for Samsung to be able to make any big claims about battery life.
The smaller versions of the standard and Classic Galaxy Watch 6 watches have 300mAh batteries, instead of 284mAh ones. Bigger variants move up from 410mAh to 425mAh. A 3.5-6% isn’t going to dramatically change real-world battery stamina.
Marginally faster processor
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 uses the Exynos W920 processor, the Galaxy Watch 6 a W930. They are fairly similar chipsets.
Both support Bluetooth 5.3 and are based on the same 5nm fabrication process. However, early reports suggest the newer model has roughly 10% higher performance.
Early verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is clearly not an essential buy for Galaxy Watch 5 owners. It is also a rather conservative update. But you do have to wonder what Samsung could have added without altering the cost. We pay $20 more this year, which is not a huge rise given the current rate of inflation.
It’s good news, then, that the Samsung Galaxy 5 Pro is hanging around. Its XL-size battery sets it apart from both the standard Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 6.