Samsung and Google announced at Google I/O 2021 that they are combining their two operating systems for wearables - Wear OS and Tizen - to make a joint platform for wearables, currently called ‘Wear’.
The joint effort brings improvements to battery life, 30% faster loading times for apps, and smoother animations. Wear will also feature a standalone Google Maps app, that works without a phone, and offline downloads for YouTube and Spotify.
Wear will be available for all smartwatch OEMs to use, much like Wear OS, and they can add customised user interfaces on top.
Samsung has confirmed that its next Galaxy Watches will run the new unified platform, while Fitbit - who were acquired by Google - will use the platform on upcoming premium products.