The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is on schedule to arrive in just a few months, and early leaks about its specs and design are starting to trickle in.
While the Galaxy Watch 7 tops our list of the best Android watches, it was quite similar to the Galaxy Watch 6 in design, display, and battery life — except it had no "Classic" model. Now it appears Samsung will stick to its biannual schedule and bring back the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic.
We heard one rumor in early 2024 that Samsung would try a squircle design for the Galaxy Watch 8, but we suspect Samsung will stick with the status quo.
There's still plenty we don't know about the Galaxy Watch 8. Here's what we do know, as well as what we want Samsung to upgrade or change with this generation!
Galaxy Watch 8 models and leaks
Late last year, several Samsung model numbers leaked, including one (SM-L505U) expected to be the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. After Samsung released a 4 Classic and 6 Classic, it seems certain that the Korean brand will stick with an alternating schedule.
More recently, a Galaxy Watch 8 model leak listed out six Galaxy Watch 8 models: two sizes of Watch 8, each with either Wi-Fi or cellular LTE, and one size of Watch 8 Classic with Wi-Fi or LTE.
Two case sizes is the norm for most Galaxy Watches — expect a Galaxy Watch 8 40mm and 44mm — but previous Classics came in two sizes, too. We're curious if Samsung decided to cancel the smaller 43mm model for this generation, making the Classic more like the one-size Galaxy Watch Ultra.
That same report said that the larger Watch 8 model would have a 435mAh-capacity battery. The Watch 7 44mm had a 425mAh battery, so it seems this generation will only have an incremental battery upgrade. We'd bet that the Watch 8 will have the same 40-hour estimate as the last few generations.
Aside from these credible rumors, a March 2024 report from SamMobile claimed that Samsung executives wanted to switch from its long-running circular Galaxy Watch design for a squircle design, one it hadn't used since the Samsung Gear S in 2014 (see above).
"The idea is enthusiastically being considered internally," the report claimed.
However, a later summer 2024 report claimed that a Samsung exec was "angry" about "design plagiarism" because of complaints that the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra looked too similar.
Even though Samsung did a squircle watch before Apple, that was over a decade ago, and it seems unlikely that Samsung will redesign the Galaxy Watch 8 in a way that invites more complaints about "copying" Apple. In other words, expect the Watch 8 to look the same as the last four generations of Galaxy Watches.
Galaxy Watch 8: Expected specs and features
Like recent Galaxy Watches, the Galaxy Watch 8 will likely have 1.3- and 1.5-inch AMOLED displays, 2GB of RAM, at least 32GB of storage, dual-band GPS, IP68 dust and water resistance, and a MIL-STD-810H rating for shock protection.
The last two Galaxy Watches have upgraded their Exynos processors, but it's common for Samsung to use the same chip for generations. We believe the Galaxy Watch 8 will bring back the Exynos W1000, its 3nm chip with five Arm Cortex cores. But it's possible Samsung will upgrade again to keep pace with the new Snapdragon W5 chip and offer a better AI assistant.
Samsung will also bring back its Samsung BioActive Sensor for heart rate, stress, blood oxygen, ECGs, skin temperature, and BIA (body fat) readings, plus sleep apnea detection. The Galaxy Watch 7 sensor added new multicolor LEDs meant to track new health metrics like AGEs Index. Samsung said last year this data was "one of the many new advanced features planned" with the upgraded BioActive Sensor, so perhaps the Watch 8 will track new health data.
We know Samsung is working on blood glucose and diabetes monitoring, but there's no guarantee it'll be ready for the Galaxy Watch 8.
Overall, we expect the Galaxy Watch 8 hardware to be fairly similar to last year's, with Samsung focusing instead on new health & fitness software. At Galaxy Unpacked 2025, Samsung revealed its upcoming Samsung Health upgrades.
First, they will add a new metric called "vascular load" that's very similar to Fitbit Cardio Load or Apple's Training Load. It monitors how your "daily activities impact your cardiovascular system," to help you "reduce strain on your heart and maintain long-term heart health."
Next, the Samsung Health app will have a "personal health coach" that gives you tips to hit your sleep, weight loss, exercise, or overall health goals. This will include "AI tools" that'll let Samsung Health users "ask questions, get real-time insights, and receive personalized coaching as if you would from your own personal health assistant."
Samsung Health will even let people who log their meals track their "antioxidant index" and offer "tailored meal plans and recipes."
Our Galaxy Watch 8 wishlist
The Galaxy Watch 7 made some significant upgrades: A faster Exynos chip, double the storage, a daily energy score based on sleep and fitness data, three times the LEDs for more accurate health tracking, sleep apnea detection, and more.
The question is, what can the Galaxy Watch 8 do to improve? And what can we expect from the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic? Here is our Galaxy Watch 8 wishlist of features and upgrades:
Improve the core battery life
This seems unlikely, given the leaked 435mAh battery capacity for the Watch 8, but we've seen a 40-hour estimate on the last four Galaxy Watch generations, and it'd be nice to see a boost — especially for the pricier Watch 8 Classic. When you have the OnePlus Watch 3 lasting 4–5 days per charge, it makes us wonder if Samsung can step up its game.
Add UWB or better connectivity
The Apple Watch was the first to add Ultra Wideband, and it lets you pinpoint its location with an arrow guide on your phone. Samsung offers UWB in most of its flagship phones so you can use them as a digital car key or find them more easily; it'd be cool for Galaxy Watches to add this as well, for an easy tap-to-open on new cars or (more likely) to find your watch when it falls down a couch cushion.
Otherwise, we could hope to see a jump to Bluetooth 6.0 or support for WiFi 6GHz frequencies.
Some kind of design switch-up
The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic shouldn't be any different from the Watch 8, aside from the rotating bezel and better style. It's the watch to buy if you want a bit more class. But the fact is, the Galaxy Watch 8 default style has gotten a bit stale, hardly changing over the last several generations.
Maybe Samsung will add a squircle (though we doubt it) or give up on the polarizing digital bezel and add a crown like everyone else. Otherwise, Samsung needs to optimize the design somehow, maybe by shrinking the display border even further or slimming down the thickness by another millimeter. Give us something to break the status quo!
Give us (useful) Gemini
We've heard a credible leak that Google plans to add Gemini to Wear OS soon. Our best guess will be that Wear OS 6 will bring the smarter assistant to watches, which means that One UI 7 Watch will get it, too.
The question is how it will work. Will it simply use your phone's NPU and cloud processing to answer Gemini Live questions on your wrist, or will there be any on-device capabilities? Considering the Pixel 9a can't run some on-device AI tricks with "only" 8GB of RAM and a Tensor G4, I don't know what a Galaxy Watch 8 could do with 2GB and old Cortex cores. So we'll have to see whether Gemini on watches is just a face-lift of Assistant or is more useful in some way.
Continue to upgrade the health and fitness features
The Galaxy Watch 7 had AI insights into your health, better HR and GPS accuracy, and an upgraded Biosensor. We already know the Galaxy Watch 8 will continue this trend with new vascular load and beta-carotene metrics, plus an AI health coach and nutrition plans.
This all sounds great, but since this is a wishlist, we'll be greedy and ask for more. For example, we'd love to see some kind of daily suggested workouts in Samsung Health based on your vascular load, similar to what Fitbit and Garmin offer.
We'd also like to see Samsung do more with the new HR sensors than its AGEs Index, which didn't seem to be especially accurate or helpful on the Galaxy Watch 7. Hopefully, the Galaxy Watch 8 will bring new data that's a bit more polished from the start!
The current champion
The Galaxy Watch 8 may not be all that different from the Watch 7, which will get four years of OS updates and is frequently discounted. Unless you're really excited for the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, you may want to upgrade to a Watch 7 now; you can always choose to trade it in for the Watch 8 later!
