This summer, Samsung announced its newest line of wearables, the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic.
The two smartwatches are direct successors to 2022’s Galaxy Watch 5 and 2021’s Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, introducing a number of updates and new features over the previous year’s models.
We awarded both watches a solid 4 out of 5 stars in our reviews, but how do the two compare? Keep reading to learn more about the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and get a step closer to understanding which model is right for you.
Pricing and availability
Both the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic launched on August 11 2023.
Prices for the Watch 6 start at $299.99/£289, while those for the Watch 6 Classic start at $399.99/£359. That means you’ll save $100/£70 by opting for the standard Watch 6, with that numbering varying depending on the size and connectivity type you choose.
Design and screen
Both the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic come in two sizes. The Watch 6 is available in 40mm and 44mm sizes, while the Watch 6 Classic has a larger option with both 43mm and 47mm sizes available.
Similarly, the Watch 6 is built out of Armor Aluminium while the Watch 6 Classic is made from stainless steel and marks the return of the rotating bezel – a feature we found natural and pleasing to use during our review testing. The Watch 6, on the other hand, sticks with a digital rotating bezel.
The larger display on the Watch 6 Classic should make interacting with the wearable easier and make it a more suitable option for those in need of better visibility. However, both displays employ Super AMOLED technology, meaning you can expect them to be crisp and vibrant. Both displays are also larger than that found on the Galaxy Watch 5 with a thinner bezel to boot.
The Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic also come in different colourways. The Watch 6 is available in Graphite, Silver and Gold (depending on the display size you choose), while the Watch 6 Classic comes in Black and Silver. You can of course customise your wearable further by choosing from the wide range of bands Samsung offers.
Features and performance
Both the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic run Google’s Wear OS 4 out of the box, which we found to be smooth and a large upgrade over previous versions of Wear OS.
Wear OS 4 includes a breadth of apps and customisable tiles, along with a good selection of watch faces. Both watches support the Google Play Store with the same apps and services available across the Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic.
Both watches also support Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant which can complete basic tasks like load apps and start timers. There’s also Samsung Wallet available for making contactless payments from your wrist.
Health and fitness tracking
The Galaxy Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic share a wide number of sensors, including an accelerometer, a barometer, a bioelectrical impedance analysis sensor, an electrical heart sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an infrared temperature sensor, a light sensor and an optical heart rate sensor.
The above power a wide range of health and fitness tracking features available across both models, including heart rate monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, menstrual cycle tracking, exercise tracking and sleep tracking.
We found that both models offered extensive tracking, with no shortness of workouts to track and easy-to-understand stats.
Results were generally very accurate, though we did spot some misreported numbers in the sleep tracking tool when it came to light/deep sleep and REM numbers, as well as a small discrepancy when tracking our heart rate during exercise. Both of these occasions occurred on the Watch 6, while we encountered a few issues with VO2 Max and GPS accuracy on the Watch 6 Classic.
Battery life
Samsung claims that both the Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic can last up to 40 hours with the Always-On display feature switched off, or up to 30 hours with it switched on. The larger sizes of each model (44mm and 47mm) carry 425 mAh batteries, while the smaller sizes (40mm and 43mm) feature 300 mAh ones.
We found the battery life to be the biggest disappointment on the Watch 6 and the Watch 6 Classic with the two watches struggling to last two days on a single charge. This means you’ll need to charge the watch on a daily basis if you want to wear it every day, which might lead to some anxiety if you plan to use the watch for sleep tracking as well as when you’re out and about.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
