Samsung's Gear S4 is around the corner. We've seen a steady stream of details leaking out over the past couple months, but now more has come to light.
The information comes from leaker Ice universe, who says the Gear S4 - which is likely to be called the Galaxy Watch - will run on Google's Wear OS. The leaker also reports that the Gear S4 will be able to track blood pressure, sport a 470mAh battery, a new UX interaction and have a PLP package.
Reliable leaker Evan Blass had previously reported that he'd heard Samsung employees were wearing Gear watches running Wear OS rather than Samsung's own Tizen. Later, Blass tweeted that those smartwatches were made by Google and seeded to Samsung employees (basically, there was nothing to see here - move along).
It would certainly be a surprise to see Samsung ditch its own operating system for its flagship wearable, but it seems to be a subject that's more difficult to avoid. If the Gear S4 is to be renamed the Galaxy Watch, Wear OS would bring it to some nice parity alongside the Android-powered Galaxy phones.
Elsewhere, Ice universe says the Galaxy Watch will be able to track blood pressure. Samsung does have a patent that uses light technology to track blood pressure. That patent was referring to a device called the Gear X, which looked like Samsung's older Gear watches. Those were likely a placeholder name and design, however.
The 470mAh battery would be a welcome upgrade over the Gear S3's 380mAh battery. One thing that might help enable that is the new PLP (panel level package), a chip manufacturing process that results in smaller chips, which opens up the possibility of a smaller device or more space for a bigger battery.
Samsung is holding an event on 9 August to announce the Galaxy Note 9. It's likely the company also reveals its next big smartwatch at that event as well, which means we won't have to wait long to see all these Gear S4 rumors confirmed (or not).
