Samsung may go back to square smartwatches, and I can’t wait

Some ten years ago, Samsung launched its first smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear. What’s unique about it is how it looked. Unlike every single one of the top Android smartwatches available today, the Galaxy Gear rocked a square display. A recent scoop suggests that Samsung is considering going back to that design philosophy for its upcoming smartwatches, perhaps after taking inspiration from Apple’s uber-popular Watch series. And I, for one, think it is the right way to go for smartwatches, and I’ll tell you why.

A case for circular watch dials

You can’t fault their splashy style

You’ll often hear that around 80% of all analog wristwatches sold have a round dial, indicating the general user preference is heavily tilted to one side. Call me a sheep, but I, too, side with the majority here — the circular shape breaks the dull, straight lines of your shirt’s cuffs to make the timepiece stand out on your wrist. That’s the whole point of wearing a chic analog watch; checking the time is secondary.

However, the remaining audience still prefers a square or rectangular design. With round watches so popular and common, a square dial catches the eye as a novel accessory. That’s also the reason why Apple has stuck with square-shaped smartwatches, because one can easily tell them apart from a Galaxy Watch, besides Steve Jobs’ and Apple’s fascination with the squircle shape — look at its general product design, app icons, and everything in-between.

The S stands for square

Because that’s how it should be

While round wristwatches have a sensible reasoning for their design considering how their internal mechanism works, the shape isn’t quite suitable for smartwatches. Your smartwatch doesn’t have any gears or springs on the inside. Instead, it resembles a smartphone’s tightly packed internals, and for that kind of layout, a round frame is impractical. It leaves less physical space for navigation, both on the inside for components and for software on the screen, where the corners are chopped off compared to a square design.

How we interact with our smartwatches matters. Unlike an analog watch’s single purpose to show you time, a smartwatch screen offers far more varied functions where you’ll use apps that rely heavily on text and media. A square display can show you more stuff on the same screen without cutting off the outer edges. This alone makes for a solid case against specifically putting round displays on smartwatches.

Furthermore, Galaxy Watches have one fan-favorite feature: their rotating bezel. It is an impressive physical element that offers tactical feedback for simple scrolls. However, I’d argue that the Apple Watch’s rotating crown is a tad more practical since it is easier to rotate and interact with using a single finger. The bezel on Samsung’s watches instead requires two fingers to operate. It’s probably a trivial nitpick but given how particular watch connoisseurs are about their timepieces, this could make or break the deal.

Samsung and square smartwatches

A story of going back and forth

As I mentioned in the opening section, Samsung’s first few smartwatches were all square-shaped, and even its recent fitness tracker has a rectangular design. Whether the company is considering going back to its roots or mimicking the Apple Watch isn’t for sure yet, but there are signs, which is exactly what spurred my desire to see more square smartwatches (even though I like my analog watches round).

If Samsung chooses to go square with its next iteration, this will bring more variety to the Android smartwatch market, which is currently filled with circular watches from Samsung’s own offerings to the Google Pixel Watch 2 and the newly launched OnePlus Watch 2. But more than that, it will also make the smartwatch interface much handier with text and images thanks to a better shape that fits this content.

Having said that, while I wish Samsung would take the lead and launch a square Galaxy Watch, there is a good chance the design may never see the light of day. Samsung may decide to stick to its tried-and-true circular watch face to differentiate its watches from the Apple Watch, but that still won’t keep me from fancying a square Wear OS smartwatch.