Launching alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Flip 3 and Buds 2, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Series offers up what looks like more choice than ever before; with two variants, each in two sizes and all available with optional 4G LTE connectivity.

The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic serve up two distinct design styles while delivering on performance (by way of a new Samsung-made wearable chipset) and dish out a new user experience; debuting the latest iteration of Wear OS, which the company has co-developed with Google.

We’ve tested both watches out, so make sure read our Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic reviews to find out what we think of them – or read on for the full tech specs and pricing info.

In terms of the watch’s unveiling, the arrival of the Galaxy Watch 4 took place at Unpacked on 11 August 2021.

As for availability, the Watch 4 series hit pre-order immediately, running until 26 August, with the watches going on sale from 27 August 2021.

For context, the original Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch 3 both arrived in the August of their respective launch years, with the Galaxy Watch Active and Active 2 changing tact, making their debuts in April and September of the same year (2019).

Samsung’s 2021 August Unpacked lineup all arrived with markedly more affordable opening asking prices than their respective predecessors; with the smallest Watch 4 variant kicking things off at £249/€269/ US$249.99 and the Classic starting at £349/€369/ $349.99.

Here’s key international pricing across the whole range:

If you’re tempted to pick up a Galaxy Watch 4, check out our Where to Buy feature, which includes deals and more.

For reference, 2020’s Galaxy Watch 3 came in two sizes – 41mm and 45mm – and cost £399/$399 or £419/$429, respectively. There was also a cellular version of Watch 3 which cost a little more, at £429/$449 and £459/$479, depending on the size you swung for.

The Galaxy Watch Active and Active 2 started at £199/$199.99 and £249/$249.99, respectively.

The standard Galaxy Watch 4 features a contemporary design, with brushed aluminium lugs that extend to encapsulate the black polished metal body of the watch, while the Classic sports more conventional timepiece styling (similar to the Galaxy Watch 3), with a stainless steel body and – most prominently – a physical rotating bezel, for UI interaction.

Depending on whether you opt for the smaller or larger-bodied version of either Watch 4, you can expect a 1.19in or 1.36in circular AMOLED display that sports a pixel density of 330ppi.

The BioActive Sensor branding that relates to the overarching fitness hardware inside the Watch 4 now extends to the two physical buttons on the watch’s right side. While the top button serves as a home key and the bottom a back key, soft-pressing both after tapping ‘Measure’ on the new Body Composition app lets the Watch 4 get a read on things like your body’s water retention, bone density and BMI.

Samsung says blood oxygen reading can now take place passively, while the Watch 4 tracks your sleep and functionality like the ECG (first seen on the Watch Active 2) – which took time to reach approval in various markets around the world – should be available to users from the get-go, at least in markets where previous Galaxy Watches had already received approval. Samsung suggests this includes nearly 40 regions.

Back in mid-May last year, at Google I/O 2021, Google officially revealed that it was teaming up with Samsung to fuse Wear OS and Tizen OS into a single platform, which Samsung then confirmed would be powering its next Galaxy Watches; pulling in additional wellness and fitness features supplied by the now Google-owned Fitbit.

Following the Watch 4’s announcement, the Korean company was quick to highlight that Wear OS as it appears on the Watch 4 Series is ‘Wear OS Powered by Samsung‘, which doesn’t reflect the experience as it might appear on forthcoming wearables from other manufacturers that choose to adopt this latest Wear OS release, not to mention Google’s own Pixel Watch.

Samsung’s take – which it calls One UI Watch – embraces much of what made Tizen (which ran on its previous Galaxy Watches) so approachable; like interaction by rotation – using the physical bezel on the Classic or the digital haptic alternative on the standard Watch 4, while Wear OS means the Google Play Store and experiences like Google Maps and Google Pay can now be accessed and can leverage the Watch 4’s hardware.

While Bixby was part of the Watch 4 user experience from launch, nine months on, on 24 May 2022, Samsung confirmed that the long-promised addition of the Google Assistant was rolling out to Watch 4 users in numerous markets; starting with Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the UK and the USA.

During Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 event, which streamed on 20 October 2021, the company announced a new update (coming to the Watch 4 and Classic on the same day) boasting additional watch faces and functionality.

Four new watch faces: Info Brick (which focuses on fitness), Basic Dashboard, Weather Centre and Live Wallpaper debuted as part of the update, while the MyPhoto+ face added animated GIF support, the Watch 4 line’s existing Animals watch faces gained additional glanceable information and the Steps Challenge animated differently, depending on if you succeeded or failed to reach your goal on a given day.

Gesture controls for accepting or declining calls, cancelling alarms or quick-launching an app of your choice, alongside fall detection – with SOS notification functionality – were also implemented.

Speaking of hardware, the Watch 4 Series also serves as the debut for Samsung’s newest wearable-centric chip, the 5nm Exynos W920, which is expected to be a huge leap forward compared to the best Qualcomm currently has to offer – the Snapdragon Wear 4100+, with its 12nm process and even the 10nm chip at play inside the Galaxy Watch 3.

According to Samsung, this latest silicon delivers “1.25x faster processing times compared to the Exynos 9110” and “8.8x smoother graphics performance.” 1.5GB of RAM and double the storage (16GB up from 8GB on the Watch 4’s predecessor) also features, while longevity should be greatly improved too, with Samsung quoting 40 hours of wear per charge across the Watch 4 line.

Here’s a full rundown of the Galaxy Watch 4 Series’ spec sheet:

We discussed the Galaxy Watch 4 line – along with all the other new products announced in the same week – in an episode of our weekly podcast Fast Charge, which you can watch right here:

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