Hot on the heels of the official release of One UI Watch 8 for the Galaxy Watch 8 series, Samsung is now showing signs of expansion into older models. The Galaxy Watch 4 is now expected to get Samsung’s Wear OS 6 update after some uncertainty on that front.
During Samsung’s One UI 8 beta launch for the Galaxy Watch series, the company made it rather clear that devices as old as the Watch 5 would receive the latest OS. The Galaxy Watch 4 was conveniently left out of that list, and the device was well-known to be on its last legs regarding support.
In a surprising move, Samsung seems to be extending that support. Samsung’s Wear OS 6 build has been spotted online in connection with the Galaxy Watch 4, and device information was posted on Twitter/X by @Koram_Akhilesh. The data notes Galaxy Watch 4 models with One UI 8 tagged.
The firmware notes indicate that these updates are recent, with dates spanning back only a few days.
The news was originally spotted by SamMobile, though the information seemed more speculative at the time. If this leak is to be trusted, that information proved to be correct.
The Galaxy Watch 4 series was set to receive only three years of Wear OS updates, without the expectation of Wear OS 6. That time is running out, and even if the devices get One UI 8, the update will likely be one of the last for the watches. Still, it’s good to see the original Wear OS device from Samsung gaining one last upgrade.
The One UI 8 update brings many changes. Most notably, the software’s tile representation has changed with new widget stacks. The UI change is small, but it does a lot to organize what was becoming a mess of information with Samsung’s ever-increasing set of watch features.
The Galaxy Watch 4 currently has a boosted trade-in value for the Galaxy Watch 8, coming in at $125 or $150 off of the device, depending on which model you get. The Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic are in pre-order with other savings attached, so an upgrade may be worth the jump, considering the Watch 4 will not be getting many updates after this.
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