Samsung Galaxy Watch4 vs Apple Smartwatch 7: Which Smartwatch is Worth Buying?

Apple recently announced its latest Apple smartwatch(or Apple Watch), the Apple Watch Series 7 following the arrival of Samsung's Galaxy Watch4 last month. Even though they cater to distinct users, both are set to take the place of two of the best smartwatches on the market right now with their innovative features. In this article, we’ll compare the current smartwatch lines from Apple and Samsung based on specs and features. 

Design and display

Unlike other Samsung Galaxy Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch4 has a sleek Armor Aluminium metal frame that looks luxurious and functional for daily use. There are two choices for future buyers, 40mm and 44mm, and four colours two choose which are black, silver, pink gold and green. There's also a good range of bands to choose from, including Hybrid Leather and Sport Band. The Super AMOLED display measures 1.4” in 44mm and 1.19” in 40mm. The Samsung is water and dust resistant to IP68 standards. 

When compared to previous generations, the display of Apple Watch 7 has slightly changed. The display is significantly bigger, with 41mm and 45mm variants available, giving you 20% more screen than the Series 6. Even though the chassis size hasn't changed, the Apple Watch looks a lot bigger with a small 1.7mm bezel. The stainless-steel color selections for the Apple Watch 7 are still the same, with silver, graphite, and titanium as options but future buyers will have more choice as it is also available in another five hues, including Midnight, Green, Blue, and Product [RED], and Starlight. Additionally, the Watch 7 has an official IP6X certification, making it more resistant to dust particles. It also retains the WR50 water resistance, allowing you to use it to track any water-related activities.

Power and Battery

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch is equipped with Google's WearOS and Samsung's One UI 3 which brings more eye-catching watch faces. It also includes 16GB of internal storage, 1.5GB of RAM, and a dual-core Exynos W920 CPU, which is 20% quicker than its predecessor. When not in use, the main processor is kept offline by a dedicated low-power display processor, resulting in a battery life of easily 24 hours under normal conditions. NFC and dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi are both available on the smartwatch. 

Apple Watch 7, like its previous models, offers an 18-hour battery life. The Series 7 charges 33 percent faster, and Apple claims that 8 minutes on charge is good for 8 hours of sleep tracking. This means there’s nothing to worry about, especially when you forgot to charge your watch the night before or if you’ve been using the Apple Watch to track your sleep because the total battery life remains unchanged. At the moment, Apple hasn't revealed any information about the processor, storage, or RAM, so it’s most probably close to or identical to the Series 6 (S6 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processor, 32GB storage, 1GB RAM). 

Fitness and Features

The Galaxy Watch4 has some additional selling points such as the BioActive sensor that can measure your heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, and even perform an ECG test. It can also perform more comprehensive body studies, such as examining your body fat, skeletal muscle, body water, BMI, and BMR (basal metabolic rate). Moreover, snoring detection and overnight blood oxygen monitoring are both included in the sleep tracking feature. When you’re sleeping, the watch lets your phone know you are sleeping and use its microphone to listen for your snoring and record it for proof. You can check your sleep data the next morning by looking at the sleep tile or the Samsung Health app on your watch.  

Coming into the Apple Watch Series 7, there are no new sensors added but it keeps many health-focused features such as the ECG, blood oxygen sensors, noise monitoring, and emergency calls. Good news for bikers too as falls detection and algorithm is now available along with the improved e-biking. There is a full keyboard as well that can be used for typing or swiping. Now that we’re living in a pandemic situation, Apple included handwashing reminders and an automatic 20-second countdown timer when scrubbing hands. Similar handwashing apps can be downloaded for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 but they do not come preinstalled like Apple Watch Series 7. 

Price

The 40mm model of Galaxy Watch 4 costs £249 / $249.99, while the 44mm model costs £269 / $279.99. If you prefer the LTE version, which can utilise both the mobile data network and Wi-Fi, add £40 / $50 plus a data contract. 

On the other hand, The Apple Watch Series 7 starts at £379 / $399 for the regular model and $499 for the cellular model, which requires a data plan. Unlike Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, this smartwatch will not be available until later this fall, although it was announced together with the iPhone 13 series.  

Verdict

Overall, the Apple Watch Series 7 isn't a significant upgrade over the Apple Watch Series 6, but it does include a few key features, like a larger display and longer battery life. The Samsung Galaxy Watch4, on the other hand, introduces more features such as BioActive Sensor that appeal to future buyers. However, it’s worth noting that Samsung's Galaxy Watch4 doesn't work with every Android phone but Apple Watch 7 works with every iPhone that has iOS14 or later. This may or may not influence your decision but at the end of the day, you’re the one using it so make sure to pick the right smartwatch for your convenience.