Key Takeaways
- Samsung is bringing Galaxy AI to Galaxy Watches in 2024, offering coaching and motivation features.
- These include options like Energy Score and Workout Routine.
- The update should come alongside the Galaxy Watch 7, but likely to older models as well.
Samsung’s Galaxy AI — so far mostly a staple of its smartphones and tablets — is coming to Galaxy Watches sometime later in 2024, the company says. The technology will be integrated with Samsung Health, and provide some basic coaching and motivation features. A Garmin-like Energy Score, for example, will analyze activity, sleep, and heart rate data to indicate how you’re doing overall and what’s contributing to your energy levels.
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Similarly, you’ll get “wellness” tips based on recent behavior, and encouragement if factors like sleep and body fat percentage are headed in the right direction. Indeed, sleep is a particular focus of Samsung’s efforts — the company is providing additional detail on things like movement and respiratory rate, which could help identify issues like insomnia or sleep apnea. That’s already a staple of some rival devices, such as the Google Nest Hub.
Some planned features are strictly exercise-focused. These include new aerobic/anaerobic threshold metrics for your heart rate zones, designed to analyze and improve running performance, as well as a Race option for both runners and cyclists. It’s not clear what the latter will entail other than something to help users “stay motivated and track current and past progress.” Hypothetically, it could let you try to beat times on a regular route.
A similarly mysterious feature is dubbed Workout Routine. This will let you combine exercises for “a more personalized workout,” presumably with AI suggestions based on your health and goals. We’re imagining it recommending push-ups and squats, say, if you’re looking to build strength, but we’ll have to wait and see.
How will people get the Galaxy AI update?
Samsung says that the features will be included with a One UI 6 Watch update coming alongside “the next Galaxy Watch lineup.” That’s obviously the Galaxy Watch 7, which could launch in August following a Samsung Unpacked event in July. It’s expected to use a faster and more power-efficient Exynos processor, and come in three versions, including a new “Ultra” tier presumably meant to challenge the Apple Watch Ultra. Apple’s Ultra is geared towards hardcore fitness and adventure enthusiasts, many of whom expect the sort of detailed metrics Samsung is promising with Galaxy AI. Software enhancements could be matched by a more rugged design.
It seems like existing Galaxy Watches will get at least some AI upgrades. Samsung explains that a “limited number” of owners will get access to the One UI 6 Watch beta starting in June, and it would be strange if none of the new features worked on the Galaxy Watch 6. Unfortunately, there’s no word on backwards compatibility at the moment.
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