Samsung's Galaxy Watch 3 successor might ditch Tizen for Wear OS

The smartwatch is rumored to debut alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 in the second half of the year.

What you need to know

• A new rumor claims Samsung will switch to Google's Wear OS for its next smartwatch.
• Samsung has been using Tizen OS for its wearables since 2014.
• You can expect the company's next smartwatch to be unveiled alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 sometime in the third quarter of the year.

Samsung has been exclusively using Tizen OS for its smartwatches since almost seven years now. However, if popular tipster Ice Universe is to be believed, Samsung could finally switch to Google's Wear OS later this year.

Samsung's new watch will use Android to replace Tizen.

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) February 19, 2021

Samsung's next smartwatch, which could succeed the Galaxy Watch 3, will apparently be running Wear OS instead of Tizen. It is worth noting, however, this is not the first time that Samsung has been rumored to be moving away from Tizen. When Samsung shifted to the "Galaxy" branding for its wearables in 2018, several rumors suggested that the company would be moving to Wear OS.

If Samsung is indeed switching to Wear OS, you can expect the next Galaxy Watch to have a vastly different UI from the company's current best smartwatches. Along with an all-new UI, Samsung's upcoming watches might also offer much better third-party app support. Even though Wear OS is far from perfect, it is miles ahead of Tizen when it comes to developer support.

According to the folks at GalaxyClub, Samsung is working on two new smartwatches for 2021, bearing model numbers SM-R86x and SM-R87x. Aside from the model numbers, however, there is nothing else that has been revealed so far. The smartwatches are expected to be released in the third quarter of the year, alongside the foldable Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 2 phones.