Samsung Announces iPhone Support for Gear S2 Smartwatch Lineup

Wearable devices were a big focus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, with the likes of Samsung and even Casio showing off what’s next for them.

In fact, it seems as though Samsung doesn’t want iPhone users to miss out on all the fun when it comes to the company’s latest wearables, and it has announced that it will be offering iOS support for its entire smartwatch lineup.

This is actually a pretty big announcement, and highlights the fact that wearable manufacturers have been looking for ways to expand their market. This is a trend that’s likely to continue into the future, with even Google announcing that Android Wear would be compatible with iOS in the past.

Samsung offers a range of smartwatches, and while it had a bumpy start with the original Samsung Gear and other smartwatches, its latest lineup of watches has hit all the right notes, offering classic-looking designs that aren’t too in-your-face, yet seem to be really functional.

The Gear S2 is its main smartwatch currently on offer, and comes in a range of different models, including a standard Gear S2 and the Gear S2 classic. The standard model looks much more like a sports watch, while the Gear S2 classic looks like a watch that you might not expect to be smart.

The Gear S2 was first introduced back in August, and is its first smartwatch with a round display, a trend that has become quite popular in the wearable world, especially among Android Wear watches. Despite this, the Gear S2 does not run Android Wear, but instead runs Samsung’s own Tizen operating system.

It’s not yet known exactly when Samsung plans on implementing iOS support, but it will likely happen later this year.

The announcement highlights an interesting phenomenon – smartwatch makers have begun competing with Apple on Apple’s own platform, but Apple is not doing the opposite. As mentioned before, even Google has announced iOS support for Android Wear.

Traditionally, it would be a lie to say that Apple has embraced other platforms, but it certainly hasn’t ignored them completely.

iTunes was made available on Windows, allowing iPod users to sync data between their beloved hard-drive based portable music player and a PC. Apple Music has also recently been released to Android, a somewhat surprising move, but one that Android users will appreciate nonetheless.

Of course, you could certainly argue that Apple doesn’t need to make watchOS, the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch, compatible with Android phones. The Apple Watch is still the best selling smartwatch to date, and that’s unlikely to change for a while.

I don’t think, however, that Apple necessarily wants to stop at just being the “best-selling” of anything. iOS is a great operating system, but in terms of numbers, Android is by far the most used mobile operating system in the world. If Apple were to make the Apple Watch compatible with Android, I think it could easily double its numbers, making a lot more money, which, let’s be honest, is the goal for any business.

It’s also important to note that operating system compatibility could soon take back seat to app compatibility, with smartwatches becoming standalone devices. It is expected that at some point the Apple Watch will be a standalone device, whether that be with the release of the Apple Watch 2 or later on down the line.

At that point, while it might be nice for users to be able to sync data through Bluetooth, it will be important too that the same apps that are available on the Apple Watch will also be available on Android. So, for example, a fitness tracking app could track data through the Apple Watch and upload that to the cloud, after which the same app will download that data on the Android smartphone.

Of course, it’s also entirely possible, and I would even say likely, that Apple won’t even entertain the idea of opening the Apple Watch up to Android users, as it likely sees this as a compromise, and instead wants users to turn to using iOS rather than Android or Windows Phone.

In any case, if you’re an iPhone user and you don’t want to fork out the cash needed for an Apple Watch or you want a smartwatch that looks more like, you know, a watch, then it seems like you won’t have to wait too long to add Samsung to the list of possible devices.

Learn More: Hands-On Apple Watch watchOS 2 Review