The smartwatch market is one which is booming of late. It seems pretty much every manufacturer has a watch on the go, in the works or due to be announced. Of course, one of the biggest watch makers is Samsung and they routinely release a ton of devices each year. That said, very few of their smartwatches (or anyone’s actually) has seen the speculation and attention that Samsung’s upcoming smartwatch has seen over the past few months. The Samsung Gear A (or Orbis if you prefer) is Samsung’s next smartwatch and is one that has been a long time coming. In fact, it had been long expected that the device would make an appearance back at MWC in March, although that was not to be the case. Instead, Samsung was reported as saying they were waiting to build the “perfect smartwatch”.
Well, it does seem that Orbis is getting closer and new reports this morning state that Samsung are now testing mobile payments on the smartwatch. Although the details are limited, it is expected that this is likely to be Samsung Pay. The new mobile payment solution has already been widely covered and is expected to land sometime soon (latest reports suggest next month). It is already being tested in south Korea and recent reports suggest it will also be available on Samsung’s own TV sets as well. As such, it looks like it will also be available on the Gear A too.
That said, for those waiting to see Orbis, it was increasingly seeming likely that it would make an appearance at next week’s Unpacked event. However, the same report details that an Unpacked appearance is not going to happen. The Gear A will not be shown off at the event and instead Samsung will wait for next month’s IFA event in Berlin to showcase the Gear A. Possibly along with Samsung Pay. Therefore, what is already seeming like a very long wait for the next Samsung smartwatch seems likely to go on a bit longer for now. That said, the Unpacked event will bring with it the new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge.