Rumors in early June indicated Samsung may not bring the Wear OS 6-based One UI 8 Watch update to its aging Galaxy Watch 4 lineup. Multiple reports suggested that Samsung would prioritize updating its newer watches first, leaving it without enough time to upgrade the Galaxy Watch 4 to Wear OS 6 within its four-year support window. But in a surprising move, the company will push One UI 8 Watch to the Watch 4, even after its official software support timeline ends.
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Samsung confirmed to SamMobile that it will update the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic to One UI 8 Watch. However, it did not provide any release timeline. Given that Wear OS 6 is still in beta testing for the Watch 7 lineup, it could take a while to reach the company’s 2021 smartwatch family.
The company will likely release a few more beta builds for the Watch 7 before pushing the stable firmware in late August or early September. It should then expand the rollout to its older wearables in the following weeks or months.
One UI 8 Watch’s new health features, such as an Antioxidant Index and Vascular Load, won’t come to the Galaxy Watch 4 due to its older health sensor array. But it should at least benefit from the improved system performance and efficiency that Wear OS 6 brings to the table.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has had an impressive run
The Wear OS 6-based One UI 8 Watch update will mark the end of the road for the Watch 4 lineup, which launched in 2021. It was the first smartwatch to launch running Wear OS 3, developed by Samsung and Google by merging Tizen OS and Wear OS together. The partnership and the watch played a key role in reviving Google and Wear OS’s presence in the smartwatch market.
What’s impressive is that every other smartwatch launched even a year or two after the Galaxy Watch 4 has already reached end-of-life. Samsung deserves full credit for supporting its first Wear OS smartwatch for this long and even going beyond its promised four-year support timeframe.