TL; DR
- Samsung is reportedly developing a new smartwatch, codenamed “Galaxy Aero,” that runs RTOS instead of Wear OS.
- The wearable is expected to sit between the Galaxy Fit 4 and Galaxy Watch FE in Samsung’s lineup.
- It could prioritize longer battery life (week-long) over third-party app support.
Samsung could be preparing a new smartwatch that takes a different direction from the rest of the Galaxy Watch lineup. According to a new report, the company is working on a wearable internally codenamed “Galaxy Aero” that runs RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) instead of Google’s Wear OS.
The device was reportedly discovered inside the latest version of the Galaxy Wearable app, where references to “galaxy_rtos_watch” were found. The naming suggests Samsung is developing a new RTOS-powered watch instead of another Wear OS model.
The report claims the Galaxy Aero will be positioned between the Galaxy Fit 4 and the Galaxy Watch FE. If accurate, Samsung would be filling a gap between its fitness bands and full-featured smartwatches with a product that offers a larger smartwatch-style experience without Wear OS.
Running RTOS would also set the Galaxy Aero apart from Samsung’s existing Galaxy Watch lineup. While Wear OS brings access to Google Play apps and deeper smartwatch functionality, Samsung has traditionally used RTOS on devices that focus more on fitness tracking and battery life. That also suggests the Galaxy Aero could deliver significantly longer battery life than current Galaxy Watch models.
On the hardware side, expect the basics: accelerometer, gyroscope, and a heart rate monitor, essentially the standard sensor package you’d find on most fitness-first wearables at this price. Whether the display ends up circular, rectangular, or square is still unknown.
Samsung is gearing up for a wave of new device launches in September, so that’s a reasonable window to watch for the Galaxy Aero, or whatever it ends up being called at launch, to surface officially.
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