Samsung Galaxy Watch 5: News, release date, price, availability, and more
Samsung makes some of thebest smartwatchesyou can buy right now, and we’re big fans of theGalaxy Watch 4andGalaxy Watch 4 Classic. But having been released in August 2021, they’re nearly a year old at this point. Samsung’s set to announce new watches at itsUnpacked event this month, and we’ve already heard plenty about the incoming generation.
Are you interested in what Samsung’s got cooking for its next wearables? Read on to find out.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5: Features
Rumors started circulating at the tail end of last winter. In March, we heard that the Watch 5 could take a page from the Fitbit Sense’s book with abuilt-in skin temperature sensor—a feature that could help it track things like sleep and menstrual cycle data. (Incidentally, the same rumor also said that the next set of Galaxy Buds could similarly sense skin temperature using infrared light.)
That detail has beencalled into questionby market researcher Ming-chi Kuo. Kuo says that, facing software difficulties, Apple has given up on including similar body temperature tech in its upcoming seventh-generation Apple Watch and speculates Samsung is facing similar roadblocks. The issue apparently lies in creating algorithms to translate skin temperature to core temperature accurately. Apple has failed to do that, and Kuo thinks Samsung won’t be able to, either.
It’s still possible the Watch 5 series will feature skin temperature sensing of some kind—and subsequent leaks havepointed to the watches having the required hardware—but we don’t know what the feature will look like right now.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5: Hardware and specifications
Early leaks about the upcoming Watch 5’s hardware have been a mixed bag, with both promising and troubling details floating around. Let’s start with the good: Battery life is likely to be better this year.
According to acouple of leaksfrom April, the 40-millimeter Watch 5 will come with a 276-milliamp hour battery. This is about 12% larger than the like-sized Watch 4’s 247-milliamp hour cell. The 44-millimeter model is expected to see a similar bump: up about 10 percent, from 361 milliamp hours in the Galaxy Watch 4 to 397 in the Galaxy Watch 5.
Samsung advertised 48 hours of battery life between charges on the Watch 4 series, but that turned out to be an optimistic estimate, especially in the smaller model, which, in our testing, typically got just over 24 hours per charge with the always-on display enabled. If these rumored battery size increases lead to similar gains in battery life, you could expect the Watch 5 to last a few more hours on a charge.
In July,leaker Ice universe said on Twitterthat the Watch 5 Pro can hit “at least three days” on a charge. If that’s true, it’s a big deal. No other full-fledged smartwatch on the market lasts so long (without hardware tricks like secondary low-power displays, anyway).
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is apparently being developedunder the codename Heart. There’s Heart-S (model SM-R90x), Heart-L (model SM-R91x), plus a third model: Heart-Pro (SM-R92x). That third model was initially reported bySamMobile,who suggests it’ll be released as the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, though that name isn’t official. The supposed higher-end model will reportedly have a positively enormous battery (for a smartwatch) at 572 milliamp hours. That’s nearly 60% larger than the biggest battery offered in any Watch 4 model.
Considering the bigger Watch 4 models are already pretty chunky—the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has a 44-millimeter case while the Classic measures 46 millimeters—Samsung has its work cut out for it in jamming such a large battery into a watch that isn’t the size of a dinner plate. Samsung’sGalaxy S22 UltraandTab S8 Ultraare uncommonly large for their respective form factors, though, so it’s possible the new Watch model could be similarly huge.
SamMobile later spotted FCC documentation that shows Samsung plans to release a 10-watt wireless charger for the watches. Prior Samsung smartwatches have featured five-watt charging, so 10 watts is a considerable upgrade—and a useful one, considering the Watch 4 series charges slower than we’d like.Leaker SnoopyTech even shared imagesof the new charger on Twitter, adding that it’ll be able to charge the Watch 5 to 45% in just a half hour. We can also see from the leaked images that this new charger will attach to its power source by USB-C, which should be a boon for travelers looking to carry less tech.
Now for the bad news: it seems like the Watch 5 Pro is replacing the Classic line. We suspected that meant there might not be a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 model with a rotating bezel this year. Our fears have beencorroborated by the prolific leaker Ice universe, who says the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will “disappoint” Samsung fans who are hoping the new Pro model will have Classic-style hardware. Like the non-Classic Watch 4, we assume the Watch 5 will offer similar functionality with a touch-sensitive bezel. Still, it’s a shame to lose the superior hardware-supported feature.
But it’s not all bad.Ice Universe has also saidthe new, higher-end Watch 5 might set itself apart from the lesser models with a massive battery and also some very premium materials:a titanium case and sapphire glassover its display. Samsung has used titanium in its smartwatches before, but the so-called Galaxy Watch 5 Pro would be the first time the company used sapphire in a watch.
Leaker Evan Blass has shared rendersof the Watch 5 Pro and Watch 5 in a total of five colorways. Here we see the Watch 5 Pro in black and gray colors, and the standard Watch 5 in beige, lavender, and charcoal. Considering the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic were each only available in a few colorways, this leak could potentially be every color we’re getting at launch.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5: Pricing and availability
We haven’t yet heard what the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 might cost. The current-model Galaxy Watch 4 starts at $250 for the 40-millimeter version and goes all the way up to $330 for the 42-millimeter version with LTE connectivity (the Watch 4 Classic is $100 extra, but as we’re not expecting a Watch 5 Classic, that’s probably not relevant here). The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, released in 2020, started at a staggering $400 and went up to $480 for the larger version with LTE, but it also featured the same rotating bezel seen in the Watch 4 Classic, which, again, we don’t expect to be featured in the Watch 5.
It stands to reason that the Watch 5 will launch around the same price as the (non-Classic) Watch 4, with the new “pro” model featuring a larger battery to cost a bit more.
We expect to see the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 make its debut along with theSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 4,Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro at the Samsung Unpacked event on August 10, 2022. Leaker Jon Prosser claims thatwe’ll see pre-orders open on August 10as well, with general availability starting August 26. Between Samsung’s upcoming wearables and theGoogle Pixel Watch, it looks like Apple Watch may finally have some serious competition.
Carriers get the upper hand
Things get red hot for Magenta
Google’s made several improvements over the years
Pixel 10 Pro XL charges faster wirelessly
From faster storage to better speakers
What’s new? A lot
