Now that Samsung’s announced its new Galaxy Watch 6 lineup during this week’s Unpacked event, there are even more Android wearables than ever to choose from. Along with a physical rotating bezel, the new lineup sports even more health features than its predecessor, like passive irregular heart rhythm alerts, personalized heart rate zones, and more advanced sleep tracking capabilities.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 comes in two different flavors: the standard version and the Classic. The new wearables start at $299.99 and will be available on August 11th, though you can preorder them today. However, before you whip out your credit card, you might want to research how they measure up to another solid Android rival: the Google Pixel Watch. Released last year, the Pixel Watch is one of our favorites, but it’s different in a couple of key ways.

Price, for example, is one of the most obvious differentiators. The Google Pixel Watch costs $349.99, and you’ll pay an extra $50 for cellular connectivity. In contrast, the cheapest Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 starts at $299.99, while the Classic model starts at $399.99. As with the Pixel Watch, you’ll have to pay an additional $50 for cellular connectivity.

Those are just the surface-level differences, though. When you dive deeper, you’ll find that the smartwatches vary in terms of health features, battery life, and other ways. To help you decide which wearable is the right one for you, we’ve compared some of the most relevant features so you can see for yourself how they stack up against one another on paper.

Differences in size and style

Besides price, one of the most obvious differences is that, as mentioned before, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 comes in a standard and a Classic version. The standard comes in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, while the Classic comes in 43mm and 47mm. In contrast, there’s only one version of the Google Pixel Watch, and it comes in just one size: 41mm. That could be problematic for those with larger wrists.

In terms of looks and build quality, the Google wearable sports a beautiful, circular domed display, but it lacks the Classic’s physical rotating bezel, and its bezels are thicker. However, you do have more color options when you buy the Pixel Watch: gold, silver, gray, and black. In contrast, Samsung only offers two color options per wearable and, in the case of the Galaxy Watch 6, based on size. The standard wearable comes in gray, but the 40mm also comes in a gold shade, while the 44mm version offers a silver option. Meanwhile, the Classic is available in black and silver.

Finally, the Google Pixel Watch is also made from a premium material — stainless steel — like the Classic version of the Samsung wearable. In contrast, the standard Galaxy Watch 6 is just made from aluminum.

Differences in features

Moving away from looks to features, Samsung’s lineup comes with a few advanced sensors the Google Pixel Watch lacks. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 can measure body composition, skin temperature, irregular heart rhythm notifications, and blood pressure, which the Google Pixel can’t. But you need to be a Samsung phone owner to use the wearable to measure blood pressure and take an EKG, which puts those outside of the Samsung ecosystem at a disadvantage. It’s actually one of the reasons we recommended the Pixel Watch over the last-gen Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 if you don’t own a Samsung phone.

The Pixel Watch does have one advantage Samsung lacks: its fitness tracking features are powered by Fitbit. Exercises are tracked within the Fitbit app, and that Fitbit integration also means you get FDA-cleared EKGs, along with excellent sleep tracking and stress management features. Unlike Samsung wearables, you also get better recovery tracking capabilities thanks to features like Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score and Active Zone Minutes (AZM). That latter grants you more AZMs for each minute your heart rate spends in the Cardio and Peak Zone and less in the Fat Burning Zone.

Adding apps

As a Google device, the Pixel Watch is packed with built-in Google-centric features like Wallet, Assistant, YouTube Music, Maps, Home, and Calendar. Samsung’s wearable offers some of the same Google features but also a few Samsung-oriented ones like Samsung Pay (as well as Google Pay) and Bixby (in addition to Google Assistant).

In terms of software, both run on Wear OS, so you can download additional apps via the Google Play Store. The Google Pixel Watch offers 32GB of storage capacity, which is double that offered by Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6. That means you have extra space for music and to add even more apps — though it’s not as if Samsung’s 16GB will leave you lacking.

Battery life and power

When it comes to battery life and processors, Samsung has the edge. On paper, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 promises a maximum of nearly two days of battery life, a claim we have yet to test. Google claims the Google Pixel Watch can only last up to a day, which is about accurate — in our testing, we found the Google Pixel Watch quickly ran out of battery with normal usage, particularly when the always-on display is enabled. However, it’s possible the forthcoming Wear OS 4 update may improve battery life.

Last but not least, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 lineup comes equipped with the new Exynos W930 Dual-Core 1.4GHz processor. In contrast, the Google Pixel Watch is powered by the older Exynos 9110. In our experience, the wearable was snappy enough but not without issues, so it’s likely the Galaxy Watch 6 is faster — again, our final judgment is still to come.

By the numbers

That’s just an overview of some of the main differences between the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 lineup and the Google Pixel Watch. If you want to explore their respective differences in terms of pure raw specs, we’ve rounded them up in the chart below.

Samsung kicked off a new generation of foldable phones at its latest Unpacked event, and it’s already taking preorders for those looking to punch their tickets to hot foldable summer. This time around, the announcements of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 were accompanied by a pair of new smartwatches and new tablets, but the foldables were the star of the show — even if some of the annual improvements are feeling mostly iterative.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is the new folding flagship, clocking in at a $1,799.99 starting price and featuring an outer 6.2-inch screen with a 7.6-inch display on the inside. If that sounds familiar from the Z Fold 4 last year, well, it is, though there are bigger changes on the $999.99 Galaxy Z Flip 5, which once again has a 6.7-inch inner folding screen but a much larger 3.4-inch front cover display. The most-touted feature that’s in both Z-series phones is a new hinge design that allows them to close flat with minimal air gap.

Whether you prefer a small phone that flips open to a “normal” phone or an average-ish phone that unfolds to a small tablet, both new options are scheduled to arrive on August 11th. We’ve compiled where you can order them, some of the most notable features to best help you decide, and any early-bird deals, discounts, and promos you can take advantage of.

Where to preorder the Galaxy Z Flip 5

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is already available to preorder for a starting price of $999.99 direct from Samsung. Or you can preorder it from Amazon with a $150 gift card included or from Best Buy with a $100 gift card. It comes in mint, graphite, cream, and lavender colors, with Samsung also offering gray, blue, green, and yellow exclusively on its site. Each one has 8GB of RAM, but the base configuration starts at a healthy 256GB of storage. A storage upgrade to the extra-large 512GB normally costs an extra $120, but as we’ve seen in prior years, by preordering you, can get the extra storage free — effectively, a $120 discount.

The Flip 5 has a faster processor borrowed from the Galaxy S23 phones, but its headline feature is its outer display that’s nearly four times as big as last year’s. The new, square-ish 3.4-inch 60Hz cover screen allows more real estate for apps to be larger and more interactive instead of mostly bite-size glanceable info.

Where to preorder the Galaxy Z Fold 5

You can preorder the ultra-flagship Galaxy Z Fold 5 at its starting price of $1,799.99 with expanded 512GB of storage (remember, you get a free storage upgrade valued at $120 for preordering) direct from Samsung. However, there are added perks at other retailers, as Amazon is including a $200 gift card and Best Buy is offering a $100 gift card with their respective preorders. Since it’s a more premium phone than the Flip, it’s of course available in less fun colors (icy blue, phantom black, cream, gray, and blue — the latter two of which are exclusive to Samsung).

Regardless of the Fold 5 you pick, you’re getting 12GB of RAM with the option for up to 1TB of built-in storage. Aside from the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, just like the Flip 5, the Fold 5 looks a whole lot like last year’s Fold 4 — at least, until you close it and the updated hinge makes it flatter. And speaking of flat, if you choose to buy Samsung’s new S Pen Fold Edition stylus that’s meant to accompany the Fold 5, it’s now flatter and slips into a thinner case than last year’s version.

Carrier promos

As usual, the US carriers are offering their own incentives, though I’m always here to remind you that the massive discounts offered are usually paid out as monthly bill credits over the course of 24 to 36 months. However, thankfully, the free storage upgrade you can get on an unlocked device also applies when you preorder from the carriers.

• AT&T is offering new and existing customers a free Galaxy Z Flip 5 or $1,000 off the Galaxy Z Fold 5 with any Galaxy phone trade-in.
• Verizon is also offering a free Z Flip 5 or $1,000 off a Z Fold 5 with a trade-in of select devices when activating a new line on an Unlimited Plus plan. Or, existing customers can get the same offer with a select trade-in if they’re on a qualified 5G Unlimited plan.
• Lastly, T-Mobile also has the Z Flip 5 for free or the Z Fold 5 for $1,000 off when customers add a line or make a qualifying trade-in on Go5G Plus or Magenta Max plans.

Update July 26th, 8:45AM ET: Article updated with links and promos from Amazon and Best Buy.

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