Samsung Galaxy Watch 8: Leaks, AI tools, and likely upgrades

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 should appear soon at Galaxy Unpacked summer 2025, which is rumored to occur in early July. Samsung has already hinted at several new features and changes, while leakers have suggested the long-awaited Galaxy Watch 8 Classic will return.

If Samsung sticks to a biannual schedule after the Watch 4 and 6 Classic, the Watch 8 Classic shouldn't surprise anyone — except those hoping for a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 or a new "Pro" model.

Samsung briefly mentioned its "new Galaxy Watch" during its latest earnings call, claiming it'll have an "innovative design." We're intrigued if that's more than corporate speak, as the Galaxy Watch 7 didn't change its design much from the Galaxy Watch 6 or older models.

There's still plenty we don't know about the Galaxy Watch 8. Here's what we do know, plus what we want Samsung to upgrade to help it stay as one of the best Android watches of the year.

Galaxy Watch 8 models and leaks

During Samsung's Q1 2025 earnings call, Corporate VP of MX Division Daniel Araujo mentioned that they will expand their wearable market presence "with a strengthened premium experience while expanding our lineup across all price segments. We plan to launch a new Galaxy Watch with an innovative design and enhanced health-related features."

We can't read too much into this statement, but it seems likely Samsung intends to sell new versions of most of its current wearables. Aside from the Galaxy Watch 8, we could see a Galaxy Watch FE 2 or Galaxy Ring 2. But what is this new premium device, and what "innovative design" can we expect?

While you might expect a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, as one report claimed, most of the evidence points to a new Galaxy Watch 8 Classic instead. So we can hope this version feels more "premium" than the 6 Classic, rather than a simple style upgrade.

In late April, a Galaxy Watch 8 Classic certification listing in the Bluetooth SIG database directly confirms the Classic name.

Past leaks of Samsung model numbers included one (SM-L505U) expected to be the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. And more recently, a leaker spotted firmware testing for six Galaxy Watch 8 models: two Watch 8 case sizes and one Watch 8 Classic, each with Wi-Fi or LTE variants.

Two case sizes are the norm for most Galaxy Watches — we expect a Galaxy Watch 8 40mm and 44mm — but previous Classics came in two sizes, too. We're curious if Samsung canceled the smaller Classic model, making the Watch 8 Classic more like the one-size Galaxy Watch Ultra.

A connected report showed that Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic batteries had received certification in South Korea, associated with the same model numbers. The larger battery will have a 435mAh capacity, only 10mAh larger than the Watch 7 44mm battery. This suggests the Watch 8 family will only have an incremental battery upgrade, with the same 40-hour estimate as the last few generations.

As for this new "innovative design," a March 2024 report from SamMobile claimed that Samsung executives wanted to switch from its long-running circular Galaxy Watch design for a squircle design, one it hadn't used in over a decade.

"The idea is enthusiastically being considered internally," the report claimed.

However, a later summer 2024 report claimed that a Samsung exec was "angry" about "design plagiarism" because of complaints that the Galaxy Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra looked too similar.

Even though Samsung did a squircle watch before Apple over a decade ago, it seems unlikely that Samsung will redesign the Galaxy Watch 8 in a way that invites more complaints about "copying" Apple. So if Samsung plans to innovate, we'd guess that the Watch 8 will sport a redesign will sticking to the circular display that its customers know and expect.

Galaxy Watch 8: Expected specs and features

We don't have any Galaxy Watch 8 specs leaks yet, so comparing the Galaxy Watch 8 vs. 7 comes down to us knowing that Samsung won't downgrade anything compared to its 2024 watch.

For instance, we know the Galaxy Watch 8, like the Watch 7, will at least have 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, dual-band GPS, IP68 dust and water resistance, and a MIL-STD-810H rating for shock protection.

Likewise, we know its two AMOLED display options will have at least 2,000 nits of brightness and 60Hz refresh rates, measuring 1.3 or 1.5 inches (if not larger) with 320+ pixels per inch.

The last two Galaxy Watches had new Exynos processors, but Samsung often uses the same chip for several years of watches. We believe the Galaxy Watch 8 will bring back the Exynos W1000, its 3nm chip with five Arm Cortex cores. But it's possible Samsung will upgrade again to keep pace with the new Snapdragon W5 chip and offer a better AI assistant.

We know that Google is planning a straightforward Assistant-to-Gemini upgrade soon. Gemini on Wear OS may come out before the Watch 8 launch, but it's also fair to guess that Wear OS 6 will bring new AI-focused tricks that'll come to both the Galaxy Watch 8 and Pixel Watch 4.

At Galaxy Unpacked winter 2025, Samsung revealed its upcoming Samsung Health upgrades.

First, they will add a new metric called "vascular load" that's very similar to Fitbit Cardio Load or Apple's Training Load. It monitors how your "daily activities impact your cardiovascular system," to help you "reduce strain on your heart and maintain long-term heart health."

Next, the Samsung Health app will have a "personal health coach" that gives you tips to hit your sleep, weight loss, exercise, or overall health goals. This will include "AI tools" that'll let Samsung Health users "ask questions, get real-time insights, and receive personalized coaching as if you would from your own personal health assistant."

Samsung Health will even let people who log their meals track their "antioxidant index" and offer "tailored meal plans and recipes."

Samsung will also bring back its Samsung BioActive Sensor for heart rate, stress, blood oxygen, ECGs, skin temperature, and BIA (body fat) readings, plus sleep apnea detection.

The Galaxy Watch 7 sensor added new multicolor LEDs, with blue, yellow, violet, and ultraviolet LEDs on top of the usual green, red, and infrared LEDs. Samsung only used them for one new metric last year — AGEs Index — but promised this was "one of the many new advanced features planned" with the upgraded BioActive Sensor.

We suspect Samsung could introduce a new health metric with the Galaxy Watch 8, though the Watch 7 and Ultra will also receive it. We know Samsung is working on blood glucose and diabetes monitoring, but there's no guarantee it'll be ready for the Galaxy Watch 8.

Our Galaxy Watch 8 wishlist

The Galaxy Watch 7 made some significant upgrades: A faster Exynos chip, double the storage, a daily energy score based on sleep and fitness data, three times the LEDs for more accurate health tracking, sleep apnea detection, and more.

The question is, what can the Galaxy Watch 8 do to improve? And what can we expect from the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic? Here is our Galaxy Watch 8 wishlist of features and upgrades:

Improve the core battery life

This seems unlikely, given the leaked 435mAh battery capacity for the Watch 8, but we've seen a 40-hour estimate on the last four Galaxy Watch generations, and it'd be nice to see a boost — especially for the pricier Watch 8 Classic. When you have the OnePlus Watch 3 lasting 4–5 days per charge, it makes us wonder if Samsung can step up its game.

Add UWB or better connectivity

The Apple Watch was the first to add Ultra Wideband, and it lets you pinpoint its location with an arrow guide on your phone. Then Google added it as a way for Pixel Watch 3 owners to unlock their Pixel phones by proximity.

Samsung offers UWB in most of its flagship phones, so you can use them as a digital car key or find them more easily; it'd be cool for Galaxy Watches to add this as well, for an easy tap-to-open on new cars or (more likely) to find your watch when it falls down a couch cushion.

Otherwise, we could hope to see a jump to Bluetooth 6.0 or support for WiFi 6GHz frequencies.

Some kind of design switch-up

The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic shouldn't be any different from the Watch 8, aside from the rotating bezel and better style. It's the watch to buy if you want a bit more class. But the fact is, the Galaxy Watch 8 default style has gotten a bit stale, hardly changing over the last several generations.

Maybe Samsung will add a squircle (though we doubt it) or give up on the polarizing digital bezel and add a crown like everyone else. Otherwise, Samsung needs to optimize the design somehow, maybe by shrinking the display border even further or slimming down the thickness by another millimeter.

Give us something to break the status quo! Let's hope that Samsung's claim of an "innovative design" isn't just marketing speak.

Give us (useful) Gemini

As we said above, Gemini is coming to Wear OS, and we think One UI 7 Watch built off of Wear OS 6 could upgrade it in key ways.

By default, you'll be able to say "Hey Google" or use a shortcut to wake up Gemini, then ask a question and get an LLM-based reply. The real question is whether this upgraded assistant will be able to do more than that, such as communicate with other apps via Extensions or enable better automations or on-device tasks.

That may be too much to ask for a Galaxy Watch with 2GB of memory, since the Pixel 9a can't run some on-device Gemini Nano tricks with "only" 8GB of RAM. But hey, maybe Samsung and Google will surprise us!

Continue to upgrade the health and fitness features

The Galaxy Watch 7 had AI insights into your health, better HR and GPS accuracy, and an upgraded Biosensor. We already know the Galaxy Watch 8 will continue this trend with new vascular load and beta-carotene metrics, plus an AI health coach and nutrition plans.

This all sounds great, but we also expect Samsung to do more with its new multicolor LEDs than AGEs Index this generation. And we'd love to see Samsung Health offer some daily workout suggestions based on your vascular load, similar to what Fitbit and Garmin offer.