Samsung already has a slew of smartwatches out on the market, but all of its wearables have one thing in common: the square screen. In late May, a Samsung patent filing showed a round-faced smartwatch, which would use gesture controls.
Now, a few more Samsung smartwatch designs with round faces appeared on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) website. Given the sheer number of designs Samsung has submitted and had approved by the USPTO, it seems likely that at least one of them will become a reality.
All the designs have round faces just like the Moto 360, but each design appears to have a different wristband and other small differences. The patent does not go into the specifics of the device, but there is a lot of information that we can deduce from the design drawings and even more that we can infer from Samsung’s current approach to wearables. These smartwatches will run either Tizen, Android Wear, or both. They will most likely come equipped with a variety of sensors for tracking health and fitness metrics.
In one of the designs, it looks as though Samsung has included some kind sensor right on the wristband of the smartwatch. Of course, this could just be a camera just like the one seen on the Galaxy Gear. The next image shows a similar looking wristband, which appears to have the same round sensor, but in the third image, the sensor is not visible and the wristband appears to be open instead of closed like Samsung’s previous smartwatch designs.
As with any patent design, it’s uncertain if these specific designs will actually arrive on the market any time soon. Still, it stands to reason that Samsung will continue to make smartwatches and that eventually, the unpopular square form factor will fall by the wayside.
