IFA 2016: Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch launch date confirmed

NEW DELHI: In line with the recent rumours, Samsung will be introducing its Gear S3 smartwatch at an event in the upcoming IFA 2016 conference in Berlin, Germany. The confirmation comes from the company’s event invite for September 1. Although the invite, shared by Android Central, doesn’t mention the name of the smartwatch anywhere, it does show the minute and hour hands, making it an easy guess. For those unaware, Samsung launched the Gear S2 with rotating bezels at last year’s IFA.

As per speculations, Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch would retain the circular dial design of its predecessor. It is also expected to come with an altimeter, barometer and GPS-based speedometer. A ‘Classic’ variant of the device is also rumoured. Both might run Samsung’s home-grown Tizen OS.


Samsung recently announced a major update for the Gear S2, and it seems that the next version will improve it further. Thanks to the update, users can now directly download apps and watchfaces on their Gear S2 smartwatches. This means that the smartwatch doesn't need to be connected to the smartphone in order to download the watchfaces.

Users can also use any of their own photos (from the My Photo app) and set it as the watchface. It's also possible to post S-Health exercise results on Facebook directly from the Gear S2. The S-Health app can also track sleep data automatically when users wear the Gear S2 while sleeping.


Samsung has also made it easy to make calls or send messages on the Gear S2, with the contacts feature being available as a widget. The new software update also adds a timer to the "S-Voice" voice recognition feature. Users can start, pause, resume and stop the same.

The company earlier recently launched its Gear Fit 2 smart band in India priced at Rs 13990 along with the Gear VR, Gear Icon X wireless earphones and the flagship phablet, the Galaxy Note 7.