Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 ( left ) and Galaxy Watch 5Joe Maring / Digital Trends

When it comes towearables , Samsung has some of the unspoilt products on the market . And if you ’ve been following our reportage of the incredible Galaxy Watch Series , you ’ll know just how crazy we were about theSamsung Galaxy Watch 5 . But now that theGalaxy Watch 6has go far , is it worth upgrading the carpus appurtenance you ’ve come to know and screw ?

There are important lineament and other criteria to consider , and to make things easy , we ’ve put together this side - by - side comparison of the Galaxy Watch 6 and look out 5 models to aid you decide .

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: specs

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: design

At first glimpse , the Galaxy Watch 5 and its successor look indistinguishable . The round metallic physical body with beautifully curved arm , the intimate sports band looking , and the biosensing array all have been carried over from the late coevals to the next .

But there are a couple of departure here . First , the bezels are svelte , which admit Samsung to equip a slightly bigger display without have to adjust the chassis size . Second , there ’s a new gold coloring option on the table for the Galaxy Watch 6 .

However , the choices are more limited this time around . you could only cull between graphite , silver , and amber colouration for the Galaxy Watch 6 , and which ones you could get will depend on how pliant you are on size of it ; ash gray is only available on the 40 mm Watch 6 this class , while the new gold is exclusive to the smaller 40 mm version . The Galaxy Watch 5 is uncommitted in graphite and silver gray finishes in both sizes , plus sky-blue on the 44 mm variation and pink gold on the 40 millimeter lookout 5 .

Samsung has n’t added any secret sauce to the durability of the Galaxy Watch 6 as it retains the MIL - STD-810H ruggedness level of its predecessor . The build is once again IP68 - certified with 5ATM water impedance , while the material of choice — armour aluminium for the case — has been used once again .

Samsung say its latest smartwatch can survive immersion up to 50 meters for a peak duration of 10 minutes submersed — or up to 30 minutes if the deepness does n’t exceed the 1.5 - cadence mark . On the customizability side of affair , Samsung is introducing new set , include a fresh fabric band style . Combined with the authoritative model , Samsung is vaunt over 700 watch compositor’s case and band panache combination . Both watches also use standard 20 mm lot sizes .

The company has another thaumaturgy up its arm this year with a new “ one - click ” design for its banding . This take it nearly casual to switch out your band with a different one when you desire to alter things up . The attachment system is part of the bands , rather than the watch , so the new one - chink band can still be used with older Galaxy Watch models ( and older bands can be attached to the Galaxy Watch 6 ) . The band let in with the Galaxy Watch 6 naturally uses the newfangled design , but you wo n’t need a Galaxy Watch 6 to take advantage of the new one - click mechanism .

Both learn haveincrediblysimilar designs across the board , so we ’re call this one a necktie .

Winner : Tie

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: display

The Galaxy Watch 6 , just like its predecessor , come in two sizes : 40 mm and 44 mm . But thanks to slimmer bezel , the active display area has proceed up by up to 20 % . And with it , the screen resolution as well .

The 44 mm trim of the Galaxy Watch 6 proffer a 1.5 - in display with a higher 480 x 480 - pixel resolution , while the Galaxy Watch 5 uses a smaller 1.4 - in AMOLED silver screen with a broken resolution of 450 x 450 pixels .

Moving to the 40 millimetre rendering , you get a 1.3 - inch ( 432 x 432 - pixel ) OLED exhibit on the Galaxy Watch 6 . On the other hand , the Galaxy Watch 5 ’s 40 millimetre discrepancy has a small 1.2 - inch ( 396 x 396 - pixel ) screen . Samsung continues to apply sapphire glass for auspices across both multiplication .

But there ’s one all important upgrade . The smartness on Galaxy Watch 6 go all the way up to 2,000 nit , double that of the Galaxy Watch 5 . That makes it much easier to interact with on - screen content on the new smartwatch in broad day without having to worry about squint to see it through phantom and thoughtfulness . It ’s incredibly gentle to see even in lineal sun , so if you drop a lot of time outdoors , this alone could make the Watch 6 a worthy upgrade over last year ’s poser .

Samsung has also enhanced the watch gestures on the Galaxy Watch 6 , allowing users to set crosscut that let them access apps and important functions with simplicity . In parliamentary law to make the most of the 30 % slimmer bezel , there are also Modern gestures to play up the fringe benefit of a bigger silver screen .

The Galaxy Watch 6 drive home meaningful upgrades — include a bombastic screen and noticeably improved brightness — so it gets the winnings for this bout .

achiever : Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: internal hardware

Samsung has not only equipped the Galaxy Watch 6 with a faster C.P.U. but has also enhance the RAM capacity . The Galaxy Watch 6 draws power from the in - house Exynos W930 treble - core processor clock at 1.4GHz . Its predecessor come equip with the Exynos W920 chip ticktack at 1.18 Gc . The stock RAM capability on Samsung ’s Galaxy Watch 6 is 2 GB , while the Galaxy Watch 5 series is limited to 1.5 GB of dynamical memory .

While that ’s a modest upgrade on newspaper publisher , apps open more quickly and notification scroll smoothly for a natural and effortless user experience .

Samsung has also enhanced the Bluetooth connectivity aspect , adding Bluetooth v5.3 reinforcement to the Galaxy Watch 6 , while the Galaxy Watch 5 is trammel to the older v5.2 banner . The sensors , however , remain identical .

Across the Galaxy Watch 5 and its replacement framework , you get a temperature detector , accelerometer , barometer , gyroscope , geomagnetic sensor , and light sensing element . More advanced health sensing is deployed to the custom Samsung BioActive sensing element , which can measure meat pace , electrical cardiac signal , and bioelectrical resistance .

Although the sensing element have n’t transfer , pregnant upgrades to the processor and RAM avail the Galaxy Watch 6 win this round .

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: battery

One of the more meaningful upgrades on the Galaxy Watch 6 is a larger battery . Compared to the 284mAh ( 40 millimeter model ) and 410mAh ( 44 mm trim ) batteries on the Galaxy Watch 5 , Samsung has fitted 300mAh ( 40 mm interlingual rendition ) and 425mAh ( 44 millimeter variant ) bombardment inside the Galaxy Watch 6 .

But despite the blow in battery size of it , Samsung ’s prescribed jam material arrogate 40 hr of battery lifespan , while start the always - on display mode brings those figure of speech down to 30 hours . That ’s not much of an improvement compared to the Galaxy Watch 5 , and at first coup d’oeil , it would appear that the faster central processing unit and bigger display are to blame here .

However , it looks like Samsung is living up to its claims , as our testing shows the Galaxy Watch 6 delivers significantly better battery life story than its predecessor . In virtual enjoyment , the Watch 5 fell well short of Samsung ’s estimates , but the new Watch 6 manages to get through a very participating day with 60 % to 70 % of barrage fire living remaining — and that ’s with the always - on display enable . At the very upper limit , you may be capable to squeeze in about 48 hours on a single charge , including two nights of sleep trailing , which is reasonably telling considering that the Watch 5 could n’t get through even part of a 2d twenty-four hours without a top - up .

Sadly , no tangible improvements have been made to the charging speed , though . The Galaxy Watch 6 is still reliant onthe same WPC - based radiocommunication charging touchstone as the Galaxy Watch 5 . That means you either need the supplied charging puck or a compatible charging mat to juice up the smartwatch ’s battery . Even with a Samsung headphone that supports wireless charging in your hands , you ca n’t use it to wirelessly top up the Galaxy Watch 6 ’s battery .

Despite a relatively small increase in battery content , Samsung has worked wonders with baron efficiency this year , significantly improving the survival of the Galaxy Watch 6 over its harbinger .

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Galaxy Watch 5: health sensing

As cite above , no technical rise has been made to the sensing hardware . But that does n’t have in mind the Galaxy Watch 6 is underwhelming by any stretch of the imaging . It supports sopor tracking , heart charge per unit measurement , declivity detection , temperature sensing , ancestry atomic number 8 saturation analysis , focus storey assessment , line pressing monitoring , exertion loss measuring , ECG measurement , and more .

It can also discover temporary sum rhythm , which could be a foretoken of serious cardiac complications like AFib . And thanks to the Thermo Check feature , it can deploy its infrared sensing capableness to quantify the temperature of a water body that you are about to swim in , the temperature of your nutrient , and more — without any physical contact .

accept things a stone’s throw further , Samsung has introduced a raw Sleep Score Analysis system on the Galaxy Watch 6 that analyzes metrics like sleep and awake time , physical and mental recovery , and sleep oscillation , among others .

The update Sleep Message system will offer users meaningful feedback about their sleep quality each morning . There ’s also a nap consistency feature film that lets user keep an eye on how consistent their sleep and ignite slots are .

Samsung has also enhanced the Sleep Coaching feature , which offer tailor-made footstep - by - step guidance to users on how to improve their sleep use . Once enabled , it take a wide range of steps like enable sleep mode on the watch , as well as the machine-accessible earpiece , changing the preferences of smart home base twist , dimming the screenland , and more .

On the fitness side of thing , there ’s a new Personalized Heart Rate Zone feature of speech that lets drug user define workout intensity levels across five tiers based on their physical ability . For running enthusiast , the freshly enclose Track Run system will observe a comprehensive log of their running history .

This all sounds great , but there ’s also the arguing thatthe Galaxy Watch 5 will soon see most ( if not all ) of these modification down the roadin a future software update . The Watch 6 may have more functionality out of the box , but the Watch 5 wo n’t be behind it for long .

We ’re chalk this round up as a tie .

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs Galaxy Watch 5: price and availability

Right now , the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 costs $ 200 for the 40 mm variant without cellular connectivity , while the 44 millimeter interlingual rendition will run you $ 216 . This pricing is for the Wi - Fi / LTE variant of the Galaxy Watch 5 .

For the Galaxy Watch 6 , Samsung is need at least $ 250 for its 40 millimetre Bluetooth - only translation , and $ 270 for the Wi - Fi / LTE model . For the 44 mm band sizing , you could expect to pay $ 280 for the radix model , and $ 300 for the Wi - Fi / LTE version .

Overall winner: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

The Galaxy Watch 6 may not look like much of a fabric upgrade over the Galaxy Watch 5 , especially owe to the near - identical look , but there are mess of changes under the thug that make it a licitly better product .

The screen is observably brighter and can now accommodate more message owing to the slim bezels . The processor is faster , and thanks to add RAM mental ability , the multitasking experience should also be smoother .

The with child battery , coupled with Samsung ’s promise of lower stamp battery use , is in spades a step in the ripe direction for any smartwatch out there , and it makes a surprisingly heavy difference in practical terms . Samsung has also enhanced sleep- and fitness - related capableness by total some new tricks , which is also a welcome change .

But what if you already have the Galaxy Watch 5 ? You could in all likelihood go either path . The sum experience of the Galaxy Watch 6 is the same — it ’s just faster , with a much more usable video display and noticeably better battery living . If you have hard currency to give up and need a public presentation and display boost , the Watch 6 will deliver . But if you ’re fine with your Watch 5 and do n’t sense a big need to upgrade , you ’re also OK wait until the Galaxy Watch 7 next year .