What you need to know
- Samsung has extended the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 to five major Wear OS upgrades.
- The new watches launch with Wear OS 7 and One UI 9, meaning software support should continue through 2031.
- Samsung likely enabled the longer support thanks to the new 3nm Snapdragon Wear Elite chip.
Samsung has expanded the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2's Wear OS software support to five years.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 alongside its new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series at Galaxy Unpacked in London on July 22. While the new foldable phones grabbed most of the attention, Samsung's latest smartwatches also bring some meaningful upgrades, including larger batteries across both models.
But there are even more improvements that Samsung didn't spend much time talking about during the keynote, and one of them is the software update policy.
Samsung has already been one of the best Android smartwatch makers when it comes to software support. Until now, the company promised four major Wear OS upgrades and five years of security updates for its Galaxy Watches.
For comparison, Google currently offers only three years of software updates for the Pixel Watch lineup, so Samsung was already ahead on that front.
With the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Samsung has taken things a step further. As first spotted by SamMobile, the company has expanded the update policy to five major Wear OS upgrades, while continuing to offer five years of security updates.
That's one additional major OS upgrade over previous Galaxy Watches. It's also worth noting that both watches ship with One UI 9 based on Wear OS 7 out of the box. Assuming Samsung sticks to its promise, these watches should continue receiving major Wear OS updates through 2031, which would presumably take them to Wear OS 12.
Samsung didn't really highlight this during the launch event, but it's likely that the new Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset is one of the reasons behind the extended support. The new chip is built on a 3nm process and is claimed to deliver up to 32% better performance than the previous generation.
For anyone considering a new smartwatch, that's one more reason to look at Samsung's latest lineup. The Galaxy Watch 9 starts at $380 in the U.S., while the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is priced at $700. Both smartwatches will be available starting August 7.
