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Although not nearly as thoroughly leaked as that Galaxy Z Fold 4 and The mobile powerhouse Z Flip 4, Samsung’s next-gen Apple Watch competitor, has also had a lot of the spotlight lately, with several reputable sources claiming to reveal a number of juicy details about the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro.
Of course, there aren’t many sources of inside information about unreleased devices that are more trusted than the Federal Communications Commission. While the latest FCC certification documents (first reported by 9to5Google) seems to put a number of details down to three Samsung products with model numbers firmly set in stone SM-R900, SM-R910 and SM-R920, only one of which could ever be called juicy… or even remotely interesting.
Smartwatches also need to be charged quickly
65W. 120W. 150W. 200W. Even without any context, these numbers should be ringing a bell or two for many Android phone users right now. But (certain) mobile phone manufacturers have put a lot of effort into this Reach the fast loading milestone after Milestone first, making a fuss of each new achievement, most smartwatch vendors don’t seem interested in pushing that particular area of that particular market.
Many of the same companies are in both industries, of course, including Samsung. With the With the Galaxy S22 Ultra falling a few steps behind the competition with charging speeds up to 45W, we’re almost surprised to see the Galaxy Watch 5 family confirmed as having 10W charging technology.
The Galaxy Watch 5 could catch up with the Apple Watch Series 7 (pictured here).
That’s a pleasant surprise, mind you, like last year Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic is barely able to go from 0 to 100 percent battery capacity in about two hours, with the same 5W charging limit in between.
In contrast, the The Apple Watch Series 7 takes about 45 minutes to fill its empty tank to about 80 percent, which we can probably expect the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro to match, if not surpass, in just a few months.
Fast charging was one of the Series 7’s biggest advertised selling points and a major upgrade in the 2020s Apple Watch Series 6, which may have convinced Samsung to take this feature seriously.
Upgrading the charging speed is a great match for a larger battery
Aaand it looks like August Galaxy Watch 5 buyers will get just that. The small version of the non-Pro Wear OS smartwatch (aka SM-R900) was revealed back in March to pack a 276mAh cell, which is (slightly) taller than the 247mAh battery currently allowing owners of the 40mm non-classic Galaxy Watch 4 to get (almost) a good day of work done on a single charge.
The large Galaxy Watch 5, which is expected to coincide with the aforementioned SM-R910 model number, could offer a similar upgrade over the 361mAh battery 44mm Galaxy Watch 4 thanks a juicer around 400mAh, while the sole Galaxy Watch 5 Pro variant (aka the SM-R920) is designed to somehow fit a 572mAh cell under its hood.
The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic is pretty great, but we have reason to believe the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro will be better.
Well, that’s a big step forward for both of them the 42mm and 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, whose 247 and 361 mAh batteries respectively would pale in comparison to what Samsung is preparing for what could be its biggest smartwatch ever.
Speaking of later this year, those FCC approvals may or may not mean the Galaxy Watch 5 range is around the corner, like an Unpacked announcement and The pre-order launch on August 10 alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 still seems more likely than, say, a quiet launch in early July alongside the Galaxy Buds Pro 2.
Incidentally, the other details revealed by the FCC are Wear OS support (duh!), NFC, Bluetooth, and 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity, with no integrated 4G LTE capabilities to be found … on these special models.
