Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is ditching a fully circular design, leaked images suggest

According to new images in a leaked Samsung app, the upcoming Galaxy Watch 8 series will do away with the usual fully circular design of the company’s smartwatch.

Leaked firmware has revealed a lot about the Galaxy Watch 8 series. New changes in One UI 8 Watch are plentiful, but another leak has shown that Samsung will likely be making some major design changes to the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic.

The folks at Android Authority spotted images in One UI 8 Watch firmware that shows both the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. Codenames “Fresh8” and “Wise8” refer to the two devices, respectively, and the design has changed quite a bit. Where prior devices had a fully circular design with lugs coming out of the top and bottom for the watch band, these new renders show a “squircle” design that’s very similar to the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

The new design still has a circular display, but the shape has a more square overall footprint, lifting the buttons out a little further as well. Watch 8 still has just two buttons, where Watch 8 Classic has three, just like the Watch Ultra. It’s hard to see based on these images how the Watch 8 Classic would vary from the Watch Ultra, but it presumably boils down to a rotating bezel.

Notably, Samsung directly teased that the Galaxy Watch 8 would get a new design. In its most recent earnings call, the company teased a “new” and “innovative” design for the next Galaxy Watch.

For wearables, we will expand our market presence with a strengthened premium experience while expanding our lineup across all price segments. We plan to launch a new Galaxy Watch with an innovative design and enhanced health-related features.

While nothing is set in stone yet, it sure seems like the Galaxy Watch design we’ve come to know for the past several years is going away for this new look inspired by the Ultra.

What do you think?

More on Galaxy Watch:

• Samsung teases new ‘innovative design’ for Galaxy Watch and more foldables
• Galaxy Watch 8 ‘Classic’ confirmed in listing
• Galaxy Watch 8 might have an underwhelming, just barely bigger battery

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