As Samsung gears up for its next big launch, rumors and reports are giving us a picture of what to expect. Now, an updated version of the Galaxy Wearable companion app has provided more evidence that the next Galaxy Watch will switch to Wear OS as well as revealing a new pair of earbuds, “Galaxy Buds 2.”
Max Weinbach tore down a new version of the Galaxy Wearable app that makes a few tweaks to the app. In a tweet, for instance, he showed off a revamped pairing screen for the app. Behind the scenes, though, is where the fun begins.
In a report on Android Police, Weinbach provided some pretty clear evidence of “Galaxy Buds 2,” a product we hadn’t heard of before these findings. The strings in Samsung’s app pretty explicitly mention the product that carries the codename “berry.” Not much can be learned from the code itself, aside from the fact that these buds will be able to connect to multiple devices, borrowing a trick from the Galaxy Buds Pro. It’s speculated that these new buds will be a cheaper alternative to the Buds Pro, acting as a direct follow-up to 2019’s Galaxy Buds.
Further, though, strings in this app point to some changes for Galaxy Watch. Rumors have been floating around for several weeks at this point that Samsung would be ditching its homegrown Tizen platform to instead using Google’s critically panned Wear OS. In this update, there’s more evidence for that change.
Max breaks down the evidence in a Twitter thread, explaining that the “merlot” codename that has been associated with this change before is mentioned, and he believes it is referring to a chipset that powers “wise” and “fresh” devices; possibly Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4.
All of those Galaxy Watch-related codenames are nearby direct mentions of “newos” that Weinbach believes to be referring to Wear OS. A new plugin codename is also mentioned, “water,” which may be for a compatibility layer between Wear OS and the Galaxy Wearable app. Our Kyle Bradshaw tore into the Wear OS app but, unfortunately, couldn’t find any references to these codenames.
More on Samsung:
- Samsung rumored to launch ‘Galaxy Watch 4’ and ‘Watch Active 4’ in the next few months
- Report: Samsung preparing ‘double-folding’ phone alongside new Z Fold and Z Flip this year
- Samsung may use Wear OS on a coming Galaxy Watch as new evidence reveals ‘Merlot’
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