Gear S2

Samsung says its Gear S2 smartwatch will support iPhone later this year

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

During its CES keynote on Tuesday, Samsung announced that iOS compatibility is coming soon to its Gear S2 smartwatch. On stage at the Las Vegas event, the company's VP Alanna Cotton said that the popular Tizen-powered accessory is getting iPhone support later this year.

Cotton didn't offer up specific dates or details, but expect S2 functionality to be far more limited on iOS than it is on Android. Apple does not give developers the kind of low-level access its own Watch enjoys—something that has long-hampered Pebble and Android Wear devices.

Rotating bezel on Samsung’s new Gear S2 smartwatch shown on video

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 5, 2016

Two days ago, Samsung officially unveiled its new smartwatch lineup: the Gear S2, Gear S2 classic and the Gear S2 with 3G connectivity.

The new lineup from Samsung appears to stack up surprisingly well against the Apple Watch: both smartwatches are premium built and feature easily changeable bands, sleek software, fitness and heart rate tracking and more.

But whereas the Apple Watch uses the Digital Crown for navigating its user interface, Samsung has opted for a rotating bezel that “gets better with every turn,” a feature seen on some traditional watches.

Coupled with “the revolutionary circular user interface,” as they're calling the Gear S2's Tizen operating system, the rotating bezel appears to be just as precise, novel and interesting as the Apple Watch's rotating crown.

Samsung unveils Gear S2 smartwatch lineup with up to 3 days of battery life

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

After teasing its new Gear smartwatch ahead of Apple's upcoming media event, South Korea-based Samsung last evening formally announced a second-generation Gear S family. The Galaxy Gear S2, as it's called, augments the round display of its predecessor with a rotating bezel for navigating the user interface.

The internals have been refreshed, too, so the Gear S2 has NFC. While it has less storage space than the Apple Watch's 8GB, the Gear S2 uses a stronger battery that Samsung claims runs up to three days on a single charge.