The Galaxy Watch 9 has officially arrived, bringing the annual round of upgrades to Samsung’s flagship wearable. If you’ve been holding onto an older Galaxy Watch, the new generation will feel like a major improvement. However, if you’ve spent the last year with the Galaxy Watch 8, the new model may feel like a surprisingly safe update. The hardware is familiar, and the headlining features already exist elsewhere.
As always at the start of the wearables launch season, I’m wondering how I’d spend my own money if I were shopping for a smartwatch today, and in a perfect world, I’d probably wait a little longer. Google’s Pixel Watch 5 is likely to land this fall, and could bring more substantial changes than we’ve seen from Samsung this year. In the meantime, the Pixel Watch 4 remains one of my favorite devices. For anyone eager to buy a new smartwatch right now, these are the reasons I’d still recommend the Pixel Watch 4 over the Galaxy Watch 9.
