Technologies
Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Apple Watch Series 8: Battle of the Smart Wearables
See how Samsung’s new watch measures up to Apple’s current flagship watch on specs and price.
Last week’s Galaxy Unpacked event brought the official release of the Galaxy Watch 6, Samsung’s latest smartwatch. How does the new wearable stack up with industry-leading Apple Watch Series 8? Let’s take a look at the specs, features and price.
The big physical difference is that Samsung uses a round face for its watches, while Apple keeps its square look. But both are available in two sizes that are only a millimeter in difference, so there’s little to go on here. Both are waterproof to around 50 meters (roughly 165 feet), use aluminum in their construction and have interchangeable bands.
The features are closely matched too, with both models offering GPS tracking, heart-rate sensing, fall detection, sleep tracking, automatic workout detection and more. Both also offer contactless payments using either Samsung Pay or Apple Pay. The Galaxy Watch offers 16GB of onboard storage for saving songs locally to work out with, while the Apple Watch doubles that to 32GB. Samsung reckons its watch will last up to 40 hours between charges however, while Apple only promises 18. How that stacks up in real-world testing remains to be seen.
One of the biggest differences, though, is the price: the Apple Watch Series 8 costs nearly $100 more than Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6, in both sizes. We’ll be putting these through their paces in the full review soon to see whether it’s worth savingthat money, but you can check out the full specs comparison below.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs. Apple Watch Series 8
| Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 | Apple Watch Series 8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Round | Square |
| Watch size | 40mm, 44mm | 41mm, 45mm |
| Materials/Finishes | Aluminum | Aluminum, Stainless steel, Ceramic, Sapphire glass |
| Display size, resolution | 40mm: 1.3-inch, 432×432 Super AMOLED; 44mm: 1.5-inch, 480×480 Super AMOLED | 41mm: 1.7-inch, 352×430 45mm: 1.9-inch, 396×484 |
| Dimensions | 40mm: 38.8 x 40.4 x 9.0 mm; 44mm: 42.8 x 44.4 x 9.0 mm | 41mm: 41 x 35 x 10.7mm 45mm: 45 x 38 x 10.7mm |
| Weight | 40mm: 28.7g; 44mm: 33.3g | 41mm: 31.9g (aluminum, GPS) 45mm: 38.8g (aluminum, GPS) |
| Colors | 40mm: Graphite, Gold; 44mm: Graphite, Silver | Midnight, Starlight, Silver, Red |
| Always On | Yes | Yes |
| Interchangable bands | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic workout detection | Yes (running, walking, rowing) | Yes |
| Compass | Yes | Yes |
| Altimeter | Yes | Yes |
| Water resistance | 5ATM, IP68 | 50 meters |
| Calls | Yes | Yes |
| Microphone | Yes | Yes |
| Speaker | Yes | Yes |
| Voice assistant | Yes (Google Assistant, Bixby) | Siri |
| Mobile Payments | Yes (Samsung Wallet) | Yes (Apple Pay) |
| Sleep tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Period tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Sensors | Optical Heart Rate + Electrical Heart Signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor | Electrical heart sensor, Blood oxygen sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, |
| Emergency features | Emergency SOS, fall detection | Emergency SOS, fall and crash detection |
| Compatibility | Android 10 and above | iOS |
| Software | WearOS 4 | Watch OS 9 |
| Processor | Exynos W930 Dual-Core 1.4GHz | Apple S8 |
| Connectivity | LTE6, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, NFC, GPS/Glonass/Beidou/Galileo | LTE, UMTS, Wi-Fi 2.4+5GHz, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, GPS/Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou |
| Memory and storage | 2GB memory + 16GB storage | 1GB memory + 32GB storage |
| Power | Faster wireless charging over USB-C | Faster wireless charging over USB-C |
| Battery life | Up to 40 hours (Always On Display off) / Up to 30 hours (Always On Display on) | Up to 18 hours |
| Battery capacity | 40mm: 300 mAh; 44mm: 425 mAh | 308 mAh |
| US price | 40mm: $300 (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth); 44mm: $330 (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) | 41mm: $399 (GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) 45mm: $429 (GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) |
| UK price | From £289 | From £419 |
| Australian price | From AU$549 | From AU$629 |
Technologies
The Black Friday Gaming Deals You Want Are Already Here, Including PlayStation, Xbox and Alienware
Technologies
The Black Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Is at a Record $443 Off at Amazon for Black Friday
A Galaxy Z Fold 7 price war between Amazon and Samsung gives us a record-low deal for one color.
If you’re looking for a foldable iPhone, you’re gonna need to wait until 2026, but if you’re looking for the best foldable phone of 2025, there are great deals on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 right now at both Amazon and Samsung, with the former dropping the black version of Samsung’s foldable phone to a record-low $1,557. All other models are $1,600 at both Amazon and Samsung, a $400 discount.
Samsung’s unique foldable phones had an awkward adolescence, but after getting her hands on the new lineup, CNET reviewer Abrar Al-Heet confirms that the latest Z Fold 7 «just feels right.» For one, it’s incredibly sleek at just 8.9mm thick when closed or 4.2mm thick when open, which is so thin you may even forget that it’s foldable.
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Despite weighing just 215 grams, this foldable features some serious hardware. It has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch interior display with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. It’s equipped with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12GB of RAM to support tons of helpful AI features and functions, and comes with Android 16 and Samsung One UI 8 right out of the box.
The camera system is also pretty impressive, boasting a 200-megapixel rear camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide shooting and a 10-megapixel front camera on both the cover and interior screens. Plus, it’s equipped with a 4,400-mAh battery for all-day use.
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Why this deal matters
With an unbelievably sleek design and cutting-edge hardware, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is our favorite foldable phone on the market. But it also comes with a staggering $2,000 price tag, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, this $443 discount is a way to rack up some serious savings and help cushion the blow of its considerable cost. Just be sure to get your order in soon, as we doubt this deal will remain live for long.
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Technologies
I Almost Missed This Deal Within a Deal for Baseus’ Bose-Infused Headphones and Earbuds
Baseus’ new Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 models with Sound by Bose are 23% to 33% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But Baseus throws in its BC1 clip-on earbuds or other «free» bonus items to make the deal even sweeter.
I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent for what they cost. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual- drivers and earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list.
Last week all three models were selling for around $110 (though they have higher list prices), but they’re now discounted to around $100 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages an look closely you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.
Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025
You have to click the «how to claim link» and then add one of the three products to the your cart. Once one of the headphones or earbuds is added to your cart, you can click a button on the left side of screen (above the stars for average ratings) that switches the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items.» You can then add Baseus’s BC1 clip-on earbuds, which list for $40, to your cart as a free item. Baseus’ step-up Basues MC1 Pro ($48 for Black Friday) and Inspire XC1 clip-on buds sound better, but the BC1 are fine for casual use.
If the BC1 earbuds option doesn’t thrill you, there are other freebies you can opt for. Just go back to the Amazon product page for the Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 and you’ll see options for one free item with $100, $90, $51 and $46 purchases. The $90 benefit item is a 30W dual-port fast charger (list price $20), which is decent, and the $51 benefit item is a retractable USB-C cable ($19 list) that’s useful. Don’t bother with the $46 benefit item.
You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take of the Inspire XC1 earbuds:
Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature «Sound by Bose» and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, but they sound good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).
While I prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction.
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Read more: Best Black Friday headphones deals
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