Transcription
So, we’ve got our first real-life look at the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and man, do I have some thoughts. Not only that, but this leak also shows a pretty big upgrade coming to this smartwatch. Let’s get into it.
What’s up, guys? Sal here. So, Samsung’s supposed to launch the Galaxy Watch 8 alongside their new foldables next month. But, out of nowhere, someone’s already selling the Watch 8 Classic on eBay. And they posted a bunch of photos, which honestly reveal a ton of things.
First off, the name’s confirmed: it’s gonna be the Watch 8 Classic, not Ultra 2 or something. We’re also getting our first proper look at Samsung’s new design here. It’s got that “squircle” shape we’ve heard about in earlier leaks. The rotating bezel is pretty thick and has a new design, and honestly, it looks a little weird, at least in these photos. It’s also super clear that this new smartwatch is using the same band connection method that debuted on the Galaxy Watch Ultra. There’s a leather band pictured with it, and again, it just looks a bit weird. Oh, and we can also see the charger, and the charging speed hasn’t changed, unfortunately.
But here’s some great news this leak confirms: the storage is getting bumped up to 64GB! That’s double what even last year’s Galaxy Watch Ultra had. You might be thinking, “What am I gonna do with 64GB on a watch?” But trust me, that’s a ton of space for offline music, podcasts, audiobooks, and pretty much every Watch app you can imagine. On-device storage is also super useful for synced photos, audio workouts, and all those system updates. I mean, sure, 32GB is already plenty for a watch, but hey, I’m definitely not complaining about such a generous storage upgrade!
That said, I’ve got some strong feelings about this new Watch 8 Classic design. I’m not gonna lie, when I saw this leak yesterday, my first thought was that this thing is… Seriously, the word almost feels too nice to describe how bad it looked. It’s thick, it’s chunky, and the absolute worst part is that band looks cheap. I mean, yeah, it’s got the same band connector as the Watch Ultra, which I actually really like, but man, this band just looks so… Like, it doesn’t have that sleek, seamless connection to the watch body that their recent smartwatches have nailed. Someone on Twitter replied to me saying the band might be a third-party one because there’s no way it looks that… and honestly, I really hope they’re right, because this band is just… bad.
However, it’s been about 24 hours since I first saw this leak, and I gotta say, I’m actually starting to change my mind. This thing is now growing on me. Right now, it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did yesterday. Sure, the band still looks ugly, but I’m actually starting to dig the watch design itself. The fact that it’s now rounder than the Watch Ultra is something I dig. And even though it looks pretty bulky, maybe even bulkier than the Watch Ultra, that’s actually not the case! The Watch 8 Classic is actually slimmer than the Watch Ultra.
Let me explain. Onleaks recently leaked the thickness of the Watch 8 Classic based on CAD dimensions, and it’s 14.2mm. Now, if we look at Onleaks’ measurement for the Watch Ultra, it’s 16.4mm. But Samsung officially says the Watch Ultra is 12.1mm thick. Confusing, right? Well, that’s because Samsung, when they measure their watches, doesn’t include the bezels and the sensor hump. If you include those, the Watch Ultra’s actual thickness is 16.4mm. So yeah, in reality, the Watch 8 Classic is thinner than the Watch Ultra. The official thickness of the Watch 8 Classic should probably be around 10mm or even less. I know the watch looks pretty chunky in these photos, but that’s probably just because of the camera angles. In real life, it’s going to be a lot slimmer than the Watch Ultra.
Give It Some Time Again, what looked like a total disaster yesterday, actually looks pretty good to me today. The same thing happened to me with the Watch Ultra. It looked horrible in photos, but when I actually saw it in person, I started loving the design. So give it some time, it’ll probably grow on you too. I just really hope they offer band connectors that look seamless, and not this generic, ugly thing.
With all that said, I’d love to hear what you think about this design! To be clear, the Watch 6 Classic is still, in my opinion, the best-looking smartwatch Samsung has ever made. But I’m curious what you think about this new design. Does it look better or worse than the Ultra? Let me know!
And hey, speaking of updates, I’ve got three new ones on the S26 Ultra. Click right here, and I’ll catch you there!