Samsung’s July 22 Galaxy Unpacked event won’t be all about new foldables. The company has also started teasing its next-gen smartwatches, and its pitch leans heavily on AI. In a newsroom post published ahead of the event, Samsung promises “a whole new level of effortless wellness,” describing the upcoming watches as an “AI-powered health companion.”
From tracking to interpreting
Samsung says the new Galaxy Watch will shift from passive tracking to proactive guidance, using AI to interpret sleep apnea, energy, and stress data instead of just logging it on a graph. The company also teased “all-new internal components” and improved battery life, though it didn’t name a chip or share a battery capacity figure.
Samsung’s watches run Wear OS, so there’s a real chance the “AI-powered health companion” refers to a rebrand of Google’s own Health Coach feature, which launched in May.
The hardware behind the pitch
Samsung did not confirm hardware details, but recent leaks have revealed some information about the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2. The watches will reportedly ditch Samsung’s own Exynos chip in favor of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite, a five-core processor built on a 3nm process that features a dedicated NPU for on-device AI.
Qualcomm has said the chip can deliver up to 30 percent longer battery life compared to its predecessor, which aligns with Samsung’s teased battery upgrade. Leaked battery figures back that up too, suggesting the 44mm Galaxy Watch 9 could pack a bigger 445mAh battery, while the Watch Ultra 2 could include an 800mAh cell.
These upgrades are unlikely to come cheap, with WinFuture reporting that Samsung could raise prices across the Galaxy Watch lineup by 30 to 50 euros, with the 40mm Watch 9 starting around 409 euros and the Watch Ultra 2 reaching 749 euros. Samsung is expected to unveil the new Galaxy Watch models alongside the Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8 later this month, so you won’t have to wait long for all the details.
