Incoming funeral: Tizen might be phased out in favor of Wear OS
Monopoly is anything but good for any industry, but it looks like there might soon be just one smartwatch/wearable operating system left for non-Apple devices. Now, Samsung's Tizen is doing all right and is in control of a sizeable slice of the pie, but this is expected to change with the launch of its next-gen smartwatch.
According to the data discovered in the latest version of the Galaxy Wearable app, the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active are codenamed Fresh and Wise, will come in 40/41 mm and 44/45 mm sizes, and there will be two variants for each (Bluetooth and cellular, of course). However, the more interesting part is that the aforementioned APK file contains a new plugin (known as "water") that is Samsung's compatibility layer for Wear OS and there is also a reference to "newos" that suggests anything but Tizen. Obviously, the only alternative worth considering is Google's Wear OS, especially given the fact that Samsung has been deepening its partnership with the internet search giant lately.
Samsung is expected to launch the new Galaxy Watch lineup before the end of the second quarter, and it wouldn't be surprising to see the next-generation Galaxy Buds showing up at the same time. For now, there is no accurate date to talk about, so be sure to stay tuned as we wait for more information (or at least rumors) to surface.