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Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
$375 $400 Save $25The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic delivers all of Samsung's latest fitness tech, in a watch that has a classical design and a rotating bezel. It's made from stainless steel, has a big, vibrant display and comes in two sizes.
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Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 delivers a larger display than its predecessor, with more advanced fitness tracking abilities, more RAM and power, but the same lightweight, slim and comfortable design.
Samsung launched two distinct models of Galaxy Watch for 2023. We have the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, both available in two sizes with a lot of the same functionality. So it begs the question: what's actually different between them?
In this comparison, we'll go over all the similarities and differences to give food for thought and help you consider which you should go for.
Price, specs & availability:
Samsung's latest series of smartwatches are available to pre-order from 26 July, with the official on-the-shelf date set for 11th August 2023. The Watch 6 will start from $299 in the US, or £289 in the UK, whereas the Classic variant will start at $399 or £369.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Battery Life Up to 40 hours (AOD off) - Up to 30 hours (AOD on) Up to 40 hours (AOD off) - Up to 30 hours (AOD on) Lens Material Sapphire Crystal Sapphire Crystal Case Material Stainless Steel Armour Aluminium Colors Black and silver Graphite, silver and gold Durability MIL-STD-810H MIL-STD-810H Health sensors Heart Rate, ECG, Temperature Sensors, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor Heart Rate, ECG, Temperature Sensors, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor Dimensions 46.5 x 46.5 x 10.9mm (47mm) or 42.5 x 42.5 x 10.9mm (43mm) 42.8 x 44.4 x 9.0mm (44mm) or 38.8 x 40.4 x 9.0mm (40mm)
Design and build
As far as real, tangible differences go, it's the design and build that makes up the majority - if not all - of the distinct characteristics of both the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, if only because from a hardware, display, software and performance angle, they're essentially the same watches.
The biggest difference between them - of course - is the fact that the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic has a rotating bezel around the display. This gives the Classic more of that traditional watch aesthetic, which is exactly where the name 'Classic' comes from. It's designed to look like a classical smart wrist-worn analogue timepiece.
That bezel can be rotated 360 degrees in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions in order to interact with menus and elements on the display without having to touch the screen to scroll and swipe through options. It also adds a little extra width to the watch.
Where the regular Galaxy Watch 6 is comes in 40mm and 44mm case sizes, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic comes in 43mm and 47mm, so the addition of the bezel increases the diameter of the case by roughly 3mm.
The two watch models are made from different materials too, and feature different shaping and styles around the edges and tops of the casing. Where the regular Galaxy Watch 6 is crafted from 'Armour Aluminium' - Samsung's durable but lightweight metal - the Classic is made from the heavier and more expensive stainless steel.
This makes the Classic more expensive, but also should mean it's more durable, although noticeably heavier too. At 52g and 59g for the two sizes of Classic, there's a little more heft than the 28.7g and 33.3g regular Watch 6 versions.
Both regular and Classic models feature sapphire crystal glass over the displays, and both have the same water and dust resistance ratings. Specifically, that's 5ATM (50 metre) water-proofing, IP68 water and dust resistance certification and MIL-STD-810H durability rating.
As for colours, you get a couple of options. Both 43mm and 47mm versions of the Classic come in black or silver. With the regular you get either grey or silver in the 44mm option and grey or gold in the smaller 40mm model.
Displays and software
Looking through the rest of the specs and features, there's no real difference between the watch versions, and that starts with the display.
All four variants of the watch come with a Super AMOLED full-colour display that's covered with sapphire crystal glass. Which size screen you get depends on the size of watch.
Both the 40mm Watch 6 and 43mm Watch 6 Classic come with a 1.3-inch display and a completely round 432 x 432 resolution panel. The larger 44mm Watch 6 and 47mm Watch 6 Classic have a 1.5-inch 480 x 480 resolution round display.
All models run the same Samsung-powered One UI 5 skin on top of Wear OS 4. That means you get the Google standard apps, Samsung apps and installable third-party apps from the Play Store as standard.
Performance, battery and features
As mentioned, virtually all the other watch specs and features are the same. All the watches have identical processors, RAM and storage. So you get the Exynos W930 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage on all of them.
Battery capacities are slightly different - depending on the size of the watches - and may result in better performance from the larger ones, although Samsung is claiming up to 40 hours of usage with the entire range. For those wanting specs, it's 300mAh in the smaller models, and 425mAh in the larger ones.
There are Bluetooth/Wi-Fi only and LTE versions of all models and sizes too, although those cellular versions do come with a steeper price tag. You get NFC for contactless payments and GPS route-tracking for outdoor exercise with support for GPS, Glonass, Beidou and Galileo.
Fitness and health abilities are also the same on all models. Samsung's BioActive sensor system lives at the heart of the watch, can read all-day heart-rate, give in-depth sleep tracking information, sleep coaching and personalised heart-rate zones as well as ECG functionality and a temperature sensor for accurate tracking of menstrual cycles.
Conclusion
In the end - although it's not that much different to the regular Galaxy Watch 6 - it's the Watch 6 Classic we think is the most worthwhile this year. For one reason: it's the one that's most changed, most different to the Galaxy Watch 5 series. It's got the more premium stainless steel build and has a rotating bezel for easy controls when you don't want to, or can't easily, use the touchscreen. It's also not all that expensive.
If you're determined to get the latest watch, and don't want to buy the older Galaxy Watch 5, you do still get a great watch in the Galaxy Watch 6 regular. It's got a big skinny-bezelled screen and all the same software features and performance as the Classic, and is cheaper.