Screenshots of Samsung’s iWatch competitor leaked

samsung smartwatch 1

While there’s been multiple Apple rumors bandied about over the past few weeks, by far, the one receiving the most attention is the iWatch. Three major news outlets have now reported of its existence and the word is, Apple’s bringing it to market.

Well if that really is the case, then it might want to hurry, or risk getting beaten to the punch by its fiercest competitor. That’s right, Samsung has a smartwatch of its own. And if the alleged screenshots above are the real deal, then it’s not too far off…

The images come from a Korean message board (via SlashGear), and they depict what appears to be the Home screen of some kind of smartwatch. How do we know? Well the images have a resolution of 500×500, which is too small to be anything else.

samsung smartwatch 2

This device in the screen-grabs features the name GALAXY Altius, which is odd, because that’s the rumored codename of Samsung’s Galaxy S IV. Perhaps the smartwatch is set to be unveiled alongside the company’s new flagship handset on April 15.

It’s also interesting that the UI looks Windows Phone-based, given Samsung’s success with Android, but that could easily be a software shell. And if you look in the upper lefthand corner, you’ll see an SKTelecom logo, indicating it will carry a data plan.

So by the looks of things, both Samsung and Apple are gearing up to go head to head in the still-immature smartwatch space. Will Samsung get there first? Maybe. But does it matter? Sony’s SmartWatch and Motorola’s MOTOACTV have been around for months.

No, like most things tech, I think it will come down to functionality, design and price point. Apple, for its part, is said to have a team of 100 designers working on an iOS-based smartwatch, with a curved glass display. But little else is known about the project.