Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic will get One UI 6.1.
If you currently own a Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 5, hold on to them because Samsung isn’t done rolling out One UI 6 with artificial intelligence.
The company announced earlier this week that it is expanding its Galaxy AI toolset to wearables, specifically a line of smartwatches. “By combining powerful on-device artificial intelligence with the extensive Samsung Health app, Samsung is on its way to creating the most personalized and secure health experiences yet,” the company explained in an announcement.
Features are divided into an energy score – which measures your daily energy level through sleep statistics – previous day’s activity, heart rate fluctuations and more. There is also a newly improved sleep AI algorithm that includes measurements of more detailed sleep metrics such as movement during sleep, sleep latency, and sleep breathing rate.
On the exercise side, the new Workout Routine tool will create personalized workouts with different exercises, while runners get detailed aerobic threshold metrics and cyclists can use artificial intelligence to quickly calculate their functional threshold power. A customized Wellness Tips tool will give you information on how to proceed with suggestions based on your metrics.
Samsung says these tools will make their way into the new Galaxy Watch, which is likely to be announced next month. Alongside the Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic through a beta program starting in June.
With the announcement, the practice of consigning two-year-old gadgets to the dust heap seems to be on the wane. Technology manufacturers are increasingly taking a longevity-focused approach to device sales. The days of one $700 Android upgrade seem to be over.
The Galaxy Watch 4, for example, was released in 2021. A year before AI as we understand it today burst onto the scene. Watch 4 owners couldn’t have imagined years after they bought them that they would get a number of cutting-edge skills.
But there’s a catch, Samsung has reiterated that these AI tools will only be free until 2025. The company said this when it announced Galaxy AI in January and hasn’t expanded on its plans since then.
The reality is that extending the life of a device comes at a cost. Whether through eight years of software and security updates, or through new AI tools that cost millions to develop. Samsung may or may not charge for Galaxy AI features next year, but another industry common practice is to get people hooked on something for free first. We can hope for the best, but these language models from which AI functions are born are not cheap to build or maintain.
With this announcement, I suspect Samsung is laying the groundwork for a health subscription plan. Out of Apple, Google, and Oura, the only company that doesn’t currently have a premium tier for its fitness platform is Samsung Health. The arrival of the Galaxy Ring will likely mean a monthly subscription for detailed features, which is exactly what Oura does (rumors have also pointed this out).
I can’t think of a clearer example of premium features than those powered by artificial intelligence. The Korean company has a clear way to introduce a new monthly plan for its best health features.
The question then is, are they worth paying for? In the case of Oura, if you’ve already splurged for a smart ring, then yes. The same will likely be true for the Galaxy Ring. But from the evidence we have of AI-powered features on Galaxy phones, I’m less convinced.
Google’s new One plan, which bundles Gemini Advanced with Nest Aware and Fitbit Premium, wasn’t worth it to me. As good as the Gemini and Fitbit Premium are, neither of them entices me to add another monthly payment. However, if Gemini could fully control my smart home and handle complex requests in natural language while syncing with other Google products I regularly use, then yes, I would pay for it.
Similarly, if the Samsung Galaxy AI on a smartwatch can provide insight into my health and create a truly personalized fitness plan based on the data it collects, then I might be happy to hand over some cash. It will be interesting to see how Samsung differentiates its AI from regular smartwatch features, as the skills announced sound like standard Galaxy Watch experiences. If the Korean company expects you to pay for them next year, there will need to be clear and exceptional AI features that dramatically improve the Galaxy Watch experience.