A cheaper Galaxy Watch with more than a week of battery life may be in the works

Samsung has unveiled its latest premium smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 9 series and the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, both of which come with high price tags. However, SamMobile has discovered references inside the Galaxy Wearable app that suggest Samsung may be preparing a more affordable alternative. The code reveals a new smartwatch codenamed Galaxy Aero, which is rumored to run on a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) instead of Google’s Wear OS.

RTOS is a lightweight platform designed to perform tasks quickly while using less processing power and memory than Wear OS. This can make watches using RTOS considerably cheaper to manufacture due to the need for less expensive hardware like processors, memory, and batteries. Consequently, a Galaxy Aero watch could be more affordable than Samsung’s premium models, enabling it to compete with affordable watches and fitness trackers from brands like Amazfit and Motorola.

Additionally, an RTOS watch could have a considerably longer battery life, lasting a week or more between charges, as opposed to most Wear OS models that need to be charged every day or two. The Galaxy Aero would likely rely on Samsung’s own health tools, watch faces, and built-in apps, with third-party app support potentially limited.

Although this would not be Samsung’s first wearable running RTOS, as the Galaxy Fit 3 already uses FreeRTOS for fitness tracking, sleep monitoring, media controls, and basic notifications using just 16MB of memory and has a battery that can last almost two weeks.