The evidence that Samsung will unveil its first smartwatch next month continues to mount. Citing “two people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg indicates that the Samsung Galaxy Gear (also known in previous reports as the SM-V700) will be announced alongside the Galaxy Note III at the company’s Samsung Unpacked 2013 Episode 2 event on September 4th.
A separate report from SamMobile gives us more details, including the following specifications:
- Processor: 1.5GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos 4212 with ARM Mali-400 GPU
- Connectivity: Bluetooth,NFC
- Display: 1.67-inch (320×320) AMOLED
- RAM: 1GB
- Front-facing camera: 2MP
While SamMobile‘s report is not sure whether the display will be flexible or not, Bloomberg categorically states that it will not. Flexible display or not, these specifications could make for an impressive smartwatch. But SamMobile warns that the report should be taken with a pinch of salt as the source that provided them is anonymous and details have not been validated by its usual sources.
The global watch industry is expected to generated than $60 billion in sales this year. Smartwatches that can communicate with other communication devices are widely viewed by manufacturers as their way into this market. Recent rumours have indicated that everyone from Apple (which is facing some challenges?) and Microsoft to Google and even Qualcomm are developing products for this market. Those who launch their products first (such as Sony with the SmartWatch 2) may gain an early advantage.
A concept (seen above) recently gave us a look at what the Samsung Galaxy Gear could look like.