Samsung has released a variety of smartwatches so far that have run a total of four different operating systems, all before Apple even unveiled its first smartwatch this past fall.
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So far, however, Samsung hasn’t been able to find the perfect smartwatch recipe that to produce a hit product, as everyone is still waiting for the Apple Watch to shake up the wearables landscape. Therefore it’s not really surprising to hear the company may be preparing a completely different device than anything it’s launched so far.
Online publication SamMobile has learned from its sources that Samsung has a brand new smartwatch design in mind for its next device — a wearable known internally Orbis — which should be unveiled at MWC 2015 in March.
Orbis is said to feature a Moto 360-like round watchface, a “crown-shaped power button, and a rotating bezel ring on top.”
One of the Apple Watch’s most important features is the new Digital Crown that brings Apple customers a brand-new way of interacting with the device on top of touching the display. But Samsung isn’t apparently copying Apple in that regard, or at least not completely. Instead of adding any functionality to the crown of the Orbis, Samsung is moving such functions to the rotating bezel (like scrolling and zooming in and out).
The power button of the Orbis will perform certain actions, though, including launching S Voice, waking up the screen and sending emergency messages.
Finally, the Orbis might be a higher-end watch than anything Samsung did so far, although more details about the device aren’t available at this time.
