Apple Watch 8 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch 5: Comparing the two big wearables

Apple’s finally pulled back the curtain on the Apple Watch 8, and if you want to know how it compares to Samsung’s latest wearable then we’ve got you covered.

Announced during the company’s Far Out event, the Apple Watch 8 is Apple’s latest mainline wearable, sitting comfortably between the more budget friendly Apple Watch SE 2 and the premium level Apple Watch Ultra. On the wearable market however, the Apple Watch 8’s closest rival is easily the Galaxy Watch 5.

Samsung’s newest wearable is still fairly new, and while a direct comparison is tricky given that the watch doesn’t work on iPhone and the Apple Watch doesn’t work on Android phones, a general comparison is still poignant to see how the two biggest smartwatches are moving the industry forward, so let’s take a look.

They approach the temperature sensor differently

Apple and Samsung are clearly on similar mindsets this year as both the Apple Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 5 list a temperature sensor as one of their big additions for the year. Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t have a major use case for the temperature sensor at launch, promising that developers would find a way to utilise it in their own apps down the line.

Apple on the other hand showed how its temperature sensor could be used to improve the accuracy of menstrual tracking, with the Apple Watch 8 able to show an estimated start date for a person’s ovulation cycle. It can even pick up deviations from your baseline temperature overnight, letting you know of any early signs of illness.

The battery gap is closing

During my review for the Galaxy Watch 5, I was able to get nearly 48-hours on a single charge, which is huge for a modern day Wear OS smartwatch. This statistic made the 18-hour battery life of previous Apple Watches seem ancient, and while the Apple Watch 8 does have the same standard battery life, it has a new feature to prolong its life cycle.

Apple has introduced Low Power Mode which should allow users to get up to 36-hours of use by turning off the always-on display and automatic workout tracking. While it’s not enough to beat the Galaxy Watch 5 outright, it’s definitely a step in the right direction towards giving Apple a step up.

Apple Watch 8 packs a must-have safety feature

Apple was the first company to introduce fall detection to the wearables market all the way back with the Watch 4, and the feature has since been replicated on a handful of competing devices, the Galaxy Watch 5 included. For the Apple Watch 8 however, Apple has introduced a whole new safety feature which could set off yet another trend on the smartwatch market: Crash Detection.

As its name implies, Crash Detection can recognise when a wearer has been in a car accident and reach out to the emergency services automatically, as well as the emergency contacts listed on your phone. For folks who live in rural areas, this feature could be a huge source of peace of mind, and I’d be surprised if we don’t see Samsung try to implement its own version of the same tech next year.