Samsung says its new Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will receive five years of Wear OS updates, extending support until 2031. The policy is notable because smartwatches typically receive shorter software support than phones, potentially making the devices more viable for longer-term ownership.

The watches launch with Wear OS 7 and gain an extra year of guaranteed operating-system updates compared with the Galaxy Watch 8’s four-year commitment; Google’s Pixel Watch line currently receives three years. Samsung already offers five years of security patches for its wearables, while the Watch 9 has a 20 per cent larger battery and the Ultra 2 reaches up to 5,000 nits of display brightness, versus 3,000 previously.