Samsung fans – prepare to get excited. The latest Galaxy Watch 6 Pro rumors suggest that Samsung is set to bring back the rotating bezel.
The rotating bezel control system, which was a fixture of the Galaxy Watch range, has achieved something like cult status among fans of Samsung smartwatches. It was certainly innovative, enabling users to twist the bezel for tactile control of on-screen menus.
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It didn’t just look good, it was a good way to avoid poking around on the tiny AMOLED display, and wooed users with a pleasing mechanical click. Look at us getting all misty-eyed –it’s no wonder it was such a hit.
But the bezel was unceremoniously dumped for 2022’s Galaxy Watch 5, the second Samsung smartwatch to run Wear OS 3. Samsung has never revealed the details, but it’s likely that the control was geared towards the older Tizen OS, and its usefulness diminished after the company moved to Wear OS.
But now a South Korean tech leaker called Super Roader has revealed it might be on the way back on the Galaxy Watch 6 Pro. He has a decent record of reporting Samsung leaks, and purports to be a former Samsung employee.
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The Galaxy Watch 5 only offered minimal improvements on the Galaxy Watch 4 – other than the addition of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
But the design left us a little cold, and you could criticize the Watch 5 Pro for a lack of visual differentiation from competitors.
Samsung could address that with the return of the bezel – its iconic feature.
The run-up to Galaxy Watch launches are always pretty full of leaks – and leaves few surprises by the time it launches, which is usually around August.
We’ve already heard there will only be a modest change in battery size, but there could be a new curved glass display. Add to that the bezel, and we could have a dramatically different-looking Galaxy Watch this time around.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.