Earlier today, reports were coming through thick and fast that Samsung had confirmed they were essentially exiting the Android Wear market altogether. While this in itself will not be news to some, as Samsung has seemingly put Android Wear firmly on the back burner in lieu of its own operating system, Tizen OS, the fact they they were openly confirming that they will not make an Android Wear smartwatch ever again, is not only significant news, but surprising news.
The reason being is that it is one thing for a company to commit to one platform, but quite another to publicly shut the door on certain platforms. Especially on one as universally used as Android Wear, as this could prove problematic for any company, even Samsung. If Tizen OS does not continue to be viable for the company they would be forced to either look towards another platform or backtrack on their original ‘never again’ sentiment. Which is likely why Samsung is now reported to have come out and are actively denying the allegations made by the original report by Fast Company.
However in doing so, the response from Samsung is one which is rather vague. The latest information comes from a report from Engadget (although it looks as though the same response was also given to Fast Company as well) in which Samsung are said to have responded by declaring that they “disagree with Fast Company’s interpretation.” Which was further accompanied by the statement that “Samsung has not made any announcement concerning Android Wear and we have not changed our commitment to any of our platforms.” So while the response does suggest that Samsung is not ruling out the idea (in the future) of another Android Wear-powered smartwatch, they certainly do not have any immediate plans to bring one to market. Which is likely what the reported Samsung executives were alluding to when they were originally quoted as saying that “no more Samsung Android Wear devices are in development or being planned.” So as a result, although the latest Samsung response is not vastly clear on whether their will be a new Samsung Android Wear-powered smartwatch in the future, it is probably fair to assume that they are not planning on releasing one in the foreseeable future.