Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
A viable smartwatch for anybody
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy right now. It blends fantastic features like heart rate monitoring and workout tracking with useful apps, and the ability to connect it to almost any smartphone available. There are benefits to using a Samsung device, but you aren’t locked to just those phones.
Apple Watch Series 9
A fine smartwatch with some limits
The Apple Watch Series 9 offers new features and fitness tracking capabilities thanks to its improved S9 SiP and updated ultra wideband chip. The Watch Series 9 continues to provide excellent fitness tracking capabilities, access to tons of apps and features, and even a new Double Tap function which utilizes a gesture-like movement to interact with your device without having to touch it.
The world of smartwatches just got a bit more crowded following the reveal of Apple’s Watch Series 9. The newest Apple smartwatch series comes with a ton of features, but how does it stack up to one of thebest Android smartwatchesout right now? Here’s how the Watch Series 9 and Samsung’sGalaxy Watch 6compare side-by-side.
Price, availability, and specs
The Apple Watch 9 is available for preorder now with a public release date of September 22, while the Galaxy Watch 6 was released on August 11. Samsung has the definite edge on price, starting the Galaxy Watch 6 at $300 as opposed to the $399 base price for the Apple Watch 9’s Aluminum models. Apple also has Stainless Steel versions that start at $699, but the Aluminum cases come in better colors like Product Red.
There’s a $30 upcharge between the small and large sizes of both the Apple Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch 6, but the LTE costs twice as much for the Apple Watch 9, $100 compared to the $50 upgrade on the Galaxy Watch 6. Both watches are supported on all three main American networks and sold — or up for preorder — at all major retailers.
The design of the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Galaxy Watch 6 is where you’ll see a lot of the differences. For starters, the Galaxy Watch 6 uses a round screen, rounded Armor Aluminum chassis, and standard 20mm watch straps to create a watch that looks and feels pretty similar to the “dumb” watches you wore a decade ago. The Apple Watch Series 9 continues to use the rectangular shape that Apple has relied on since the beginning, as well as its proprietary band system. Apple offers both Aluminum and Stainless steel versions of the Watch 9, though that $300 price bump is quite steep for a marginally more durable watch casing.
Where the Galaxy Watch 6 utilizes a digital haptic bezel — the $400Galaxy Watch 6 Classichas that snazzy rotating bezel — the Apple Watch uses its dial-like Digital Crown to move through different menus. Both devices also feature very different software, which we’ll cover more in-depth further below. The Galaxy Watch 6 has two active buttons — which can be mapped to a specific app, voice, assistant, and Samsung Pay — while Apple uses one side button in addition to the Digital Crown.
Both the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Apple Watch Series 9 offer pretty substantial upgrades to their displays this year. The Galaxy Watch 6 offers a larger touch screen with its 1.3" Super AMOLED display (or 1.5" on the 44mm variant) while retaining the same exterior dimensions. The displays on the Galaxy Watch 6 are made of Sapphire Crystal Glass, which is highlighted by many for its superior scratch resistance — something you’ll be happy to have on a smartwatch.
As noted in our review, the upgraded display size (it was previously a 1.19-inch display) might sound small on paper, but it’s ultimately a huge boon when working directly on the watch, whether typing, interacting with apps, or just checking notifications. The screen brightness on display with the Watch 6 is also a fantastic upgrade from the previous Galaxy Watch options, with a maximum of 2,000 nits of brightness. This makes it easy to see the watch face outside, especially in bright light.
The Apple Watch Series 9 also upgraded to a maximum 2,000 nits of maximum brightness as well as dimming all the way down to 1 nit minimum brightness. Say goodbye to those searing corneas after daring to check what ungodly hour you’ve woken up at tonight! The Series 9’s 1.69-inch (or 1.9-inch, for 45mm) screen is also Sapphire Crystal Glass for increased durability.
Resolution and pixel density are almost identical between both Samsung and Apple’s newest watches, and both AMOLED panels offer always-on display without completely tanking your battery life.
Software is a huge difference between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Apple Watch Series 9, most notably because Samsung utilizes a OneUi version of WearOS 4, whereas Apple’s smartwatch runs off watchOS 9. Both operating systems are solid, though the choice here will ultimately come down to which you find easiest to navigate.
One big difference in navigating these two watches will come with the Watch Series 9’s Digital Crown, which is used to open the app drawer, scroll through different menus, and select certain options throughout the smartwatch’s menus. You can also tap on some of these navigational options, but you’ll be using a combination of the two to get around. The Galaxy Watch 6, on the other hand, uses a haptic bezel around its edge to navigate many of its menus and direct taps to select any given shortcut, app, or setting.
Both watches offer similar app-drawer designs, allowing you to glance through your various apps more easily. You’ll have a wider variety of apps to choose from on the Apple Watch, with app support for Wear OS 4 growing but not to Apple’s level quite yet. We’ve seen even more support for the Tile API on the Watch 6 than on previous Galaxy Watches, too, and Apple’s Watch Series 9 still takes full advantage of the robust complications that watchOS has offered for years now.
To a degree, though, the only software that matters isn’t on the watch; it’s on the phone you’ll be using it with. The Galaxy Watch 6 only works with Android devices, while the Apple Watch Series 9 only officially works with iPhones. While there areworkarounds to pair Apple Watches with Android, it is a significantly limited experience and makes little sense when quality watches are available for each platform.
Health & fitness
If you plan to compare the Galaxy Watch against the Apple Watch Series 9, then you will need to take more than just price, availability, and specs into account. The health and fitness features available in both devices are another strong point of comparison and one that you’ll want to look at in-depth.
There’s a big reason that Apple continues to hit hard about just how health-oriented the Apple Watch is, and the Watch Series 9 continues that orientation by introducing even more health-focused features. The health features here allow for tracking of essential metrics, such as heart rate, blood oxygen, and even your blood glucose levels, thanks to the sensors on the Watch Series 9. Samsung also offers these same tracking systems and reliable sensors to provide accurate data for you to look over.
The Galaxy Watch 6 also offers many fitness and health tracking options, making it a solid contender against the Apple Watch Series 9. One big difference between the two is the Galaxy Watch 6’s ability to track naps with its sleep-tracking function. The Apple Watch isn’t capable of tracking naps, so you can’t see just how well you slept during the naps you take using the Apple Watch.
The Galaxy Watch 6 doesn’t offer nearly as accurate sensors as the Apple Watch Series 9, though, but it does give you a consistent enough baseline to get a good look at your activity levels and your heart rate. The Sleep Coaching function included with the Watch 6 is also extremely helpful, though as pointed out in our review, it really only helps if you actually listen to it. Otherwise, there’s not much point to it, as it’ll just keep providing you with the same information over and over.
The inclusion of new personalized heart rate zones on the Galaxy Watch 6 is a welcome addition, but it fails to achieve the robustness seen with the Apple Watch Series 9. It’s likely this will improve over time, and with the next entry in the Galaxy Watch lineup, but for now, those who care about getting the utmost accuracy from their smartwatch’s fitness features will want to go with an Apple Watch Series 9.
No matter which smartwatch you choose out of these two, both come with fantastic tracking options for workouts, including the ability to track running. However, when it comes to integrating that health data for your insurance fitness goals or sharing with your doctor, Apple Fitness takes the lead by a mile. Almost every major health insurer has some kind of digital fitness tracking incentive — one that’ll even pay for your watch — and they all support the Apple Watch, but not all support the Galaxy Watch and Samsung Health.
Battery life
Battery life offers another start contras between our two watches, but this time in the opposite direction: Apple’s 18-hour battery life expectation isn’t even half of the Galaxy Watch 6’s 40-hour battery life claim. And in real-world testing,Android Police’s own Ara Wagoner confirmed that not only was 40 hours an accurate claim, but she often got two full days before hitting the low battery warning.
The Apple Watch Series 9 will have to come off your wrist at some point in the day unless you consciously kick over to Low power mode, but that turns off a number of functions — including background heartrate tracking and some notifications — that you likely bought the watch for in the first place. Fast charging means the Apple Watch Series 9 can go from empty to full in about an hour and a half, but that still requires you to take that time every day andnotforget to put your watch back on before bed.
The extended battery life on the Galaxy Watch 6 means that if you charge your watch while taking a shower every morning, you’ll rarely ever see it drop below 40%. A full day’s use might take about half the battery, and a half-hour charge while you refresh your body will get it topped off back to full.
If you don’t use sleep tracking, either watch will work fine, but if you intend to take advantage of sleep tracking and Samsung’s handy nap-tracking, that bigger battery absolutely comes in clutch.
Which fits you best?
There is a lot to take into account when choosing between the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Apple Watch Series. One of the biggest questions, though, is whether or not you’re an Android or Apple user already. If you’re sporting an Android phone, especially one of Samsung’s, you’ll find that the Galaxy Watch 6 is better equipped to help you accomplish your fitness tracking and smartwatch needs. It’s also cheaper than any of the Apple Watch Series 9 models, and it works more easily with other Android phones outside the Samsung ecosystem. Its sleep tracking and battery life also have huge advantages over the Apple Watch Series 9, too.
The Galaxy Watch 6 delivers everything you could want out of a smartwatch while offering seamless integration with Samsung and Android devices. It’s also packed with tons of fitness-oriented features to help you track your health.
Now, that isn’t to say the Apple Watch Series 9 is bad, not by any stretch. If you don’t mind some limited features on Android or if you’re sporting an iPhone already, grabbing the Watch Series 9 means you’re able to expect top-of-the-line fitness tracking as well as fantastic features like the new Double Tap function, which lets you interact directly with different apps on your smartwatch. It is the more expensive option between the two, though, and it offers less battery life based on Apple and Samsung’s claims.
