A report by a South Korean news outlet seems to suggest that Canada isn't the only country where Samsung's newest smartwatch, the Gear S3, will be released in mid-November.
According to the report, the United States will also receive the Gear S3 in mid-November followed by "major European nations."
"We decided to market the Gear S3 midway through November at the latest in Korea and some other countries," a Samsung official said, as reported by The Korea Times.
No specific dates were given as of this time, but if the Canadian Best Buy page is any indication, the device could ship Nov. 18. The Gear S3 has a classic and a frontier variant, both of which are available for preorder for those in Canada. It costs CAD $469.99 which is about U.S. $360 when converted. The KoreaTimes gave no specific price points for the device for Korea and the U.S. market. According to the report, Samsung will officially announce Gear S3's price tag once it settles on a definite launch date.
The Gear S3 is Samsung's most recent Tizen-based smartwatch, and the successor to the Samsung Gear S2, released back in October 2015. As previously mentioned, there are two variants of the smartwatch. The Gear S3 classic features a sophisticated, svelte and fancy design while the Gear S3 frontier sports a more rugged look. The two variants are identical in terms of specs, save for design and weight.
"With smart capabilities and sophisticated, elegant design, the Gear S3 marks a significant addition to our smartwatch portfolio," Younghee Lee, Samsung's executive VP for Global Marketing in the company's Mobile Communications Business division, said back in September.
Aside from being larger in form factor, the Gear S3 hosts a number of improvements from its predecessor. The device is made of durable stainless steel, which affords it a premium and classy feel. The 1.3-inch AMOLED screen is protected by Gorilla Glass SR+, which is supposedly more damage-resistant than the Gear S2's Gorilla Glass 3. It's also packed with a beffier battery capacity, as the Gear S3 comes with a 380 mAH battery, up from Gear S2's 250 mAH. Samsung claims that the Gear S3 can last up to four days on a single charge.
The acclaimed rotating bezel input scheme remains on the Gear S3, alongside the Always-On-Display (AOD) feature. The Gear S3 also comes with a built-in GPS for geotagging and running activities, and an IP68 water resistance rating.
The Gear S3 will support Android smartphones, with upcoming support for iPhone units, as Samsung is reported to be developing an iOS app to integrate with the smartwatch.
Apple is Samsung's direct competitor when it comes to smartwatch. Apple boasts its own lineup of smartwatches named the Apple Watch, the second generation of which was recently released.
As per research company IDC's findings, Apple cornered 47 percent of the global smartwatch market in Q2 2016, a much bigger figure than Samsung's 16 percent.
Samsung needs to start appealing as the primary choice for consumers in search of a smartwatch, if it wants to recover quickly from the Galaxy Note 7 issue.
