Galaxy Watch 4, expected to run Wear OS, may tweak battery capacity in the same size body

Ben Schoon | Apr 19 2021 - 8:08 am PT

There have been a lot of questions about Samsung’s next Galaxy Watch, but as the launch approaches, the picture is becoming clearer. This week, a new report from The Elec claims that Samsung will keep the same basic body size for Galaxy Watch 4 but will tweak the battery sizes.

Apparently, the Galaxy Watch 4 will, as we were expecting, ship in two different sizes. There would be a 41mm variant as well as a larger 45mm variant. These are the same sizes Samsung used on its Galaxy Watch 3 last year, hinting that other specs such as the screen size will also stay roughly the same. There’s no indication yet as to how the design will change, if at all.

Interestingly, Samsung will also be tweaking the battery sizes for the Galaxy Watch 4 despite the sizes staying the same. This report claims that Samsung will be using its own Samsung SDI battery tech in the Galaxy Watch 4 alongside China’s Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) which was temporarily blacklisted by Samsung following the Note 7 disaster. ATL supplies the batteries for the Galaxy S21. Apparently, the move to ATL is largely used as a way to reduce costs.

The smaller Galaxy Watch 4 will reportedly be using ATL batteries with the capacity going down slightly to 240 mAh from the previous 247 mAh. Meanwhile, the 45mm version will see a slight increase from 340 mAh to 350 mAh. With Wear OS rumored to be in use, every bit of these batteries will certainly be important.

This report didn’t reveal any details about the Galaxy Watch 4 Active which is also expected to debut this year.