What you need to know
- Samsung has extended the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 to five major Wear OS updates.
- The new watches launch with Wear OS 7 and One UI 9, meaning software support should continue until 2031.
- Samsung has likely enabled longer support thanks to the new 3nm Snapdragon Wear Elite chip.
Samsung has extended Wear OS software support for the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 to five years.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Ultra 2 Watch along with its new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series at Galaxy Unpacked in London on July 22. Although the new folding phones Although it got most of the attention, Samsung’s latest smartwatches also bring some significant updates, including larger batteries on both models.
But there are even more improvements that Samsung didn’t spend much time talking about during the keynote, and one of them is the software update policy.
Samsung has already been one of the best android smart watch manufacturers when it comes to software support. So far, the company has promised four major Wear OS updates and five years of security updates for its Galaxy Watches.
For comparison, Google currently offers only three years of software updates for the Pixel Watch line, so Samsung was already ahead on that front.
With the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Samsung has gone one step further. As he saw it for the first time SamMobileThe company has expanded the update policy to five major Wear OS updateswhile continuing to offer five years of security updates.
That’s an additional major OS upgrade over previous Galaxy Watches. It’s also worth noting that both watches ship with A user interface 9 based on Use OS 7 out of the box. Assuming Samsung keeps its promise, these watches should continue to receive major Wear OS updates through 2031, which would presumably bring them to Wear OS 12.
Samsung didn’t really highlight this during the launch event, but it’s likely that the new Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset It is one of the reasons behind the extended support. The new chip is based on a 3nm process and is claimed to offer up to 32% better performance than the previous generation.
For anyone considering a new smartwatch, that’s all the more reason to look at Samsung’s latest lineup. The Galaxy Watch 9 starts at $380 in the US, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is priced at $700. Both smartwatches will be available starting August 7.
