Galaxy Watch 6 tipped to bring bigger displays and smaller bezels

Ben Schoon | Apr 4 2023 - 8:21 am PT

Samsung’s smartwatches haven’t changed a whole lot in terms of design over the past few years, with only iterative upgrades here and there, and of course, the Wear OS revamp under the hood on the latest models. But for the Galaxy Watch 6, it seems Samsung is planning to lessen the size of the display bezel.

According to Ice Universe, Samsung has managed to thin out the bezels on the Galaxy Watch 6 while making the display bigger. Ice claims the Watch 6 will have a display measuring 1.47-inches, up from 1.4-inches on the Galaxy Watch 5 (44mm). That’s only a difference of 5%, but with such a small display in the first place, it’s likely to make an impact on usability. Presumably, it would mean even more for the smaller 40mm version.

Thinning out the bezels would also put Samsung more in line with Apple. The Apple Watch started out with a design that had comparable bezels to Samsung’s wearables, but over time (starting with Apple Watch Series 7) made the bezels smaller, to the point where today’s releases have displays that nearly touch the edge of the glass. It’s a striking look, and one that no Android competitors have really matched to date.

*The Apple Watch Series 7 brought a bigger display without a bigger watch*

It’s not clear exactly how the Galaxy Watch 6 will look following this change, but it’s previously been reported that the smartwatch would also adopt curved glass, which would further make the bezels appear to be smaller. Apple employs a similar visual trick, as have many Android smartphones over the past few years.

It’s also not known how this will affect the “virtual” rotating bezel that Samsung has used since 2019. The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 use a touch-sensitive bezel to allow for control over the interface, but a thinner bezel might make this a bit more difficult. Samsung is rumored to revive the physical rotating bezel on a “Classic” design, though.

Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy Watch 6 series later this year, likely alongside its next generation of foldables.