Samsung shows Galaxy Watch6 series, including Classic model with rotating bezel

Samsung introduces its Watch6 series of smartwatches. The company is launching a ‘regular’ Galaxy Watch6, which has a larger screen than the Watch5. The Watch6 Classic, in turn, has a rotatable bezel, which can be used to operate the interface.

Samsung is introducing a Galaxy Watch6 this year, which will be available with a 40mm or 44mm diameter. The Watch6 Classic will be available in 43mm and 47mm variants. According to Samsung, both smartwatches offer larger screens than before, partly because the screen edges have become thinner. According to Samsung, the edges around the screen of the regular Galaxy Watch6 are 30 percent thinner than before. The rotating bezel of the Classic variant is 15 percent thinner. This would make the screen a total of 20 percent larger than before for both models. According to Samsung, the screens are also brighter and have a higher resolution.

With the reintroduction of a Classic smartwatch, the Watch6 series also gets a model with a rotating bezel. This rotating ring surrounds the round screen of the smartwatch and can be used to operate the interface. For example, users can rotate the bezel to scroll through the list of apps. Previous smartwatches from Samsung also had a physical, rotatable ring around the screen. However, the Watch4 Classic was the last model with a rotating bezel; the Watch4 and Watch5 series did not have a physical bezel.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 series

Furthermore, the watches have a larger battery than the previous generation. The small variants of both models will have 300mAh batteries, where previously they had 284mAh batteries. The larger models get 425mAh instead of 410mAh batteries. Samsung says that the watches are more economical than before and that the smartwatches can be used for eight hours after eight minutes of fast charging. The watches also get a new Exynos W930 SoC, 2GB memory and 16GB storage space.

Wear OS 4 and Samsung’s One UI 5 skin also bring some upgrades. The software can set personalized heart rate zones for individual users and shows more details when using the sleep tracking feature. Sleep mode also uses invisible infrared sensors instead of green LEDs to measure heart rate. In the fitness function, users can now also set their own workouts. Users can also track their menstrual cycle.

Samsung continues with new digital dials for this Watch6 generation. The company is also introducing new ‘one-click’ watch straps and watch straps made of fabric.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic will both be released on August 11. The Watch6 series will then be available from 319 euros for a model with Bluetooth only. A variant with 4G costs 369 euros. A Bluetooth model of the Watch6 Classic costs 419 euros, while an LTE version costs 469 euros.