Samsung has officially confirmed that their August 31st press conference before IFA kicks off will house the unveiling of the upcoming Gear S3 smartwatch, which will be Samsung’s follow up to the incredibly popular Gear S2 from last year. The rumor that Samsung would be showing off the Gear S3 at IFA originally surfaced at the end of July, and then Samsung began to send out invites to press for the event, which appeared to tease the announcement for the brand new smartwatch. Now that Samsung has confirmed the Gear S3 will be making its debut at the show, all that’s left is to find out the official specifications and hardware details.
Nothing is yet confirmed on this particular detail of the watch, although there have been quite a few rumors suggesting that it will have a handful of improvements and upgrades compared to the previous model. One of those rumors suggested that Samsung would be integrating many more sport and active lifestyle-focused features into this new smartwatch model, including things like an improved barometer, a speedometer, and an altimeter for those who want to stay up to date on their elevation stats during exercise. The Gear S3 has also been rumored to return with the same rotating bezel that was present on the Gear S2.
This new invite that Samsung has sent out is complete with a message that says “Talk About 3” and is accompanied by an image of a watch face in the middle, while the initial teaser invites displayed what appeared to be a set of watch hands, making less of a suggestion that the press conference would involve the Gear S3 announcement, yet still teasing it as an almost certainty. The official press conference is to take place on August 31st in Berlin at 6PM CEST, although Samsung makes a note to point out that the doors for the event are opening at 4:30PM CEST. Even though pricing is not yet known for the Gear S3 smartwatch, it’s quite likely to follow along the same lines as the pricing for the Gear S2 when it first launched, and if that ends up being the case the public will be looking at around $350 for the starting cost.