Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 seems to lose its rotating bezel

28/7/2022

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series seemingly loses its rotating bezel, has a folding clasp

We were pretty fond of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series when they first debuted last year, and we managed to take the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic in particular for a spin too. As the first smartwatch to feature WearOS 3, it represented a big departure away from the Tizen smartwatches of yesteryear for Samsung. With the Korean giants expected to reveal the Galaxy Watch 5 series later this year, serial leaker Evan Blass has provided renders of the upcoming smartwatches from Samsung.

The first big thing to note here is that Samsung has gotten rid of the ‘Classic’ moniker. Instead, in its place will be the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. It seems that it will come in just a single large 45mm size, and will be available in either black or gray titanium in LTE or GPS-only models. As for its design, the major change here is that there’s no longer a rotating bezel on the smartwatch. The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic for context had a rotating bezel with two buttons on the side, which you can use to navigate the system with.

In comparison, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro—codenamed Project X—has a thick, raised curved bezel that meets the display itself on the edge. The bezel itself is believed to be a capacitive touch bezel, like the base model Watch 4 from last year. The band looks to be a rubber or silicone watch band, which is held together with a folding clasp.

Blass also showed off the regular Galaxy Watch 5, codenamed Heart. Just like the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the non-Pro smartwatch will be available in either LTE or GPS-only configurations. It will also feature more colour options, and come in two case sizes instead of just one. Unlike the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro though, it has a flatter bezel and display more akin to the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active wearables before that. It also doesn’t get the folding clasp, instead using a regular buckle to hold it together.

Both watches are likely set to reuse the same Exynos W920 chip that first appeared with the Galaxy Watch 4 lineup, and will come with One UI Watch 4.5, Samsung’s skin of WearOS 3.5. If you’re keen on picking one of these up, you will need to watch for Samsung to formally announce them, though you shouldn’t have to wait too long as they typically will have their Galaxy Unpacked event in the summer.