It is looking increasingly likely that Samsung's next family of smartwatches will run Google's Wear OS software instead of Samsung's own Tizen system.

Samsung's first wearables used Wesr OS, previously known as Android Wear, but later switched to Tizen, an operating system developed by Samsung itself. This led to tighter integration between Samsung's watches, smartphones and other hardware, but has also caused some limitations.

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The latest report that Samsung is switching from Tizen to Wear OS comes from South Korean website Money Today, cited by TechRadar. In this case, Tizen's lack of application support is mentioned as a reason why Samsung wants to move to Wear OS. This means Samsung smartwatch owners don't have the freedom to use as many exercise apps, for example, as Wear OS and Apple Watch users.

The report suggests how this is a particular issue in Samsung's native South Korea, where some of the most popular smartwatch apps are not available on Samsung models.

Samsung shifting to Wear OS could also be a good thing for Google, too. The tech giant has been criticized in recent years for ignoring its smartwatch operating system, which languishes behind Apple's watchOS. By featuring on Samsung's next range of Galaxy smartwatches, we'd hope Google would up its game and give Wear OS the major upgrade it needs.

Smartwatches running Google's Wear OS Google

An improved Wear OS would be improvements to many other smartwatches too, as a great many wearables from a huge range of companies use Google's software.

As for what these new Samsung watches we be, we expect them to be called the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch Active 4. Previous installments from these two product ranges have been released in a staggered timeline, and they look and work in a similar way. For the next generation, Money Today says Samsung will release them together, and that they will be quite different to each other.

It is climbed the Galaxy Watch 4 will be the larger of the two, with case size options of 42mm and 46mm, while the smaller Watch Active 4 will be sized at a more conventional 40mm and 42mm.

These watches are expected to arrive later in 2021, potentially alongside a new folding Galaxy smartphone.

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