Samsung updates wearables
At Samsung’s Unveiled event last week the company announced its latest smartwatches – the Galaxy Watch 8and 8 Classic. The 8 is thinner than last year’s model (11% according to Samsung) and comes with Wear OS 6, making Samsung’s watch the first to use the new OS. This also means the watches come with Gemini assistant which can better understand natural language. An intriguing new feature for Samsung’s watches is the antioxidant tracking which Samsung says should help you “gain insight into the accumulated antioxidants in your skin.” This, combined with recommendations on how to improve your score should help Samsung to differentiate its watch from the myriad other Wear-based smart watches and cement its position as the leading Android-focused smartwatch.
The Circana Take:
- Samsung’s new watches are a strong update compared to last year and the increased focus on health and wellness will align well with the core smartwatch-wearing base.
- The addition of Gemini should help drive increased reliance on the smartwatch and should help drive the usefulness of the LTE-based version, allowing consumers to leave their smartwatch behind occasionally and still be relatively productive.
Wearables for everyone!
During a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said he would like all Americans to use wearable health products to “control” their health and “take responsibility” for said health. Kennedy claims that these devices will allow consumers to track their glucose levels, heart rates and other metrics so they can make better judgement calls about the food they consume.
The Circana Take:
- Let’s just say we are unconvinced. While wearables can certainly help with these issues, the consumer still needs to pay attention and be willing to make the necessary changes to their diet. But changes to diet often comes down to convenience and disposable household income to pay for better quality food. Further, much as smartwatches can track most of the items Kennedy talks about, they are certainly no replacement for actual doctor visits.
- Having said that, if Kennedy backs up his vision with action – such as discounted devices – it could help boost wearable sales.
- Government-mandated trackers lead to conspiracy theories. Remember how many people thought that the Covid vaccine came with a complementary 5G tracking device? Well, a smartwatch would definitely provide that tracking if the data was shared. If you didn’t want the vaccine, you won’t be volunteering to wear a tracker.