Update: Samsung has officially announced the new generation of Galaxy Watch wearables. The information below is based on pre-launch leaks, so jump over to our Galaxy Watch 7 review and Galaxy Watch Ultra review for our full impressions.
Industry whispers and leaks were a little light at the start of the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic cycle, but we’ve seen plenty of tidbits emerge over the last couple of months.
For this guide, we’ve collected all the most relevant scraps relating to the Galaxy Watch 7 – including the likely announcement and release date, pricing, design, features, and more.
Galaxy Watch 7 announcement and release date
- Official announcement set for Galaxy Unpacked on Wednesday, 10 July
- Availability is likely to begin on Friday, 26 July
Samsung has remained extremely consistent at launching a new Galaxy Watch generation each summer, though the timing of this has deviated a fair bit over the past few years.
After a couple of mid-August announcements upon its return to Google’s Wear OS platform, Samsung skipped forward to late July for the Galaxy Watch 6 on-stage confirmation.
Reliable rumors suggested in May that the company would return this July with a Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris. This has now been officially confirmed, as per the image above.
We still don’t know 100% if the Galaxy Watch 7 will be announced on stage, of course, but, based on everything we know, an announcement feels almost certain.
We also know that when Samsung announces on a Wednesday, shipping typically commences around two weeks later on the Friday. And this aligns for another important reason.
Reports have suggested Samsung has gunned for the 10 July Unpacked date to ensure that the new products have that typical two-week gap to breathe before officially becoming available in conjunction with a major event Samsung is sponsoring – the Olympics Games Paris 2024 – on Friday, 26 July. That’s when we’re expecting the devices to become officially available.
How much will the Galaxy Watch 7 cost?
- No reliable leaks relating to price
- New Galaxy Watch models likely to affect pricing
Despite plenty of hints about new features (more on these below), there’s been very little reliable chatter about the price of the upcoming smartwatch series. What does appear likely, though, is that Samsung is planning an overhaul of its wearable range in 2024.
As announced in June, an all-new Galaxy Watch FE will sit at the entry-level spot at $200/£200 – while rumors also hint at a premium Galaxy Watch Ultra, which presumably will be more expensive than the standard Galaxy Watch 7 range.
So, what’s most likely for the Galaxy Watch 7?
It’s difficult to predict, given the entire lineup is in a state of flux. As it potentially looks to introduce two new price points, we think Samsung is more likely to leave the Galaxy Watch 7 range alone.
That would mean a starting price of around $300/£289, with the typical $50/£50 bump for the LTE/4G model and another $30/£30 add-on if you want the larger case size.
Of course, we don’t know whether a Galaxy Watch 7 Pro/Classic model will be launched above the standard edition, but this typically comes at a premium of $100 over the equivalent regular model.
Latest rumors and features to expect
After a bit of a slow start, Galaxy Watch 7 rumors have begun to heat up.
Below, we’ve detailed all of the key design changes and new features based on our own reporting and that of industry insiders, but here’s a rough summary of what to expect:
- Will be the first smartwatches to run Wear OS 5/One Watch UI 6
- AI features in the revamped Samsung Health
- The premium model will be dropped for an all-new ‘Ultra’
- Blood pressure monitoring could headline
- An improved, 3nm Exynos chip is being prepared
- Leaked filing hints at mammoth battery life
Wear OS 5/One Watch UI 6 will debut
As we saw with the Galaxy Watch 4/Wear OS 3 and Galaxy Watch 6/Wear OS 4, Samsung’s latest smartwatches appear set to get first dibs on Google’s latest smartwatch software.
According to a report, a Wear OS 5 build is being prepared for the Galaxy Watch 7 (and Pixel Watch 3). At Google I/O, we saw Google announce Wear OS 5 and its improvements. And though there were no official confirmations, Samsung later shared some of the upgrades to expect from One Watch UI 6 in a blog post.
These include using the new ‘Galaxy AI’ to power new health features (more on this just below) and using the software to improve activities and workouts.
Big updates are coming to Samsung Health
This is something we already know a bit about, with Samsung teasing several significant upgrades coming to the platform and its Galaxy wearables at January’s Galaxy Unpacked event.
We’ve detailed everything coming to Samsung Health in 2024 in a separate piece, but, in essence, the Galaxy Watch 7 looks prime for daily readiness insights (My Vitality Score), new sleep insights (like high heart rate alerts during sleep), and contextualized coaching through the all-new Galaxy AI.
We expect the most exciting things – sensor-related stuff – will be held until the official announcement of the watch, but these are encouraging early signs.
Next-gen health features may headline
So, what could those more meaty, sensor-like upgrades actually be?
Well, we already know the Apple Watch X is being tipped to debut a form of basic blood pressure monitoring – something Samsung currently offers to those who wish to calibrate a third-party monitor – and, recently, Samsung executive Hon Pak indicated that significant investment was being made in future health features.
Specifically, Pak referred to blood pressure monitoring and non-invasive blood glucose measurements, though naturally refused to put a timeline on any kind of rollout of these features on Galaxy devices.
We know native blood glucose features are still several years from reality, but could this be a hint that likely Samsung’s current blood pressure monitoring could be upgraded for the Galaxy Watch 7?
We’ll await more rumors on this one.
Premium model likely to be dropped for Galaxy Watch Ultra
Despite Samsung generally operating on a tick-tock cycle with its Galaxy Watch smartwatches, with a ‘Pro’ version of each series occurring every other year with a ‘Classic’ edition, it’s being strongly tipped that this more premium model will be ditched for a higher-tier Galaxy Watch Ultra.
No recent rumors to support the idea of a Galaxy Watch 7 Pro, which is what we initially expected from this generation, though this all-new Ultra (or 7 Ultra) should effectively fill the same role in the lineup.
A much-improved Exynos chip is being prepared
After sticking with the same Exynos W920 chip for the Galaxy Watch 4/5, we saw Samsung debut the improved Exynos W930 in last year’s Galaxy Watch 6 models.
Interestingly, a tweet from WinFuture’s Roland Quandt suggests that Samsung will again refresh the chip for this year’s smartwatches – good news for those disappointed with the performance compared to Snapdragon W5+.
We weren’t necessarily expecting a new chip until the Galaxy Watch 8 launched in 2025, and initial reports have suggested this updated processor will be marketed as the Exynos W940 chip.
However, more recent reports hint that Samsung is looking to simplify the naming process for its processors and, thus, the one stored inside the Galaxy Watch 7 could be known as the W1000.
Whatever it ends up being called, there are reliable suggestions it will feature 50% better efficiency, 30% faster performance, and will use Samsung Foundry’s 3nm process.
Mammoth battery life could feature
Whether it arrives through the standard Galaxy Watch 7 or the more premium model is unclear, but an April 2024 leak suggests this generation could feature one of the biggest batteries we’ve seen in a Wear OS watch.
According to the leaked battery safety filing, a 578mAh battery unit is being prepared for the larger case sizes of the Galaxy Watch 7 – one slightly larger than the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro’s 573mAh battery.
Given the Galaxy Watch 6 models were only capable of around 40 hours of battery life, the upcoming editions appear set to return to true multi-day battery life.
