Samsung, please don’t go big for your next smartwatch

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

While all gadgets have their design challenges, there is one that continues to plague them. Making the smartwatch bigger is the absolute worst way to mitigate that.

It is possible that the latest example is SAMSUNG. The company is considering a version of the next-generation watch. The model could potentially pack a much larger battery.

That would be an upgrade. Poor battery life is one of the biggest complaints users have. It's also common for the models to act as the premium option with longer battery life and better materials.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

It's possible that a bigger battery could be included without increasing the size of the watch. However, recent trends hint otherwise. Take the Apple watch. The Series 7 increased the size of the watches from 40mm to 41mm and from 44mm to 45mm. The Series 7 batteries were larger for the 41mm and 45mm. The larger always-on displays need beefier batteries to maintain the same 18-hour battery life.

This is also guilty of the other company. The 41mm and 45mm versions of the watch were the most popular. The watch is in 42mm and 46mm. 43mm and 47mm are what the proposed version would be. You might think a 1mm increase in size isn't much to complain about, but it adds up over time.

As a person with small wrists, I can say that watches beyond 42mm become uncomfortable. They look ridiculous. I have to make certain adjustments to get the same performance. While people of all genders come in all shapes and sizes, including smaller options excludes a large number of women. You end up treating smaller people as unimportant.

Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Take the Fenix 6 and 7 lineups. The first solar charging device was the Fenix 6X Pro. People with smaller wrists had to wait. The 51mm Fenix 7X is the first and only model to get an LEDs flashlight. It will trickle down to smaller sizes in the future, but only Garmin can say when. As a woman who occasionally runs at night, I would have loved to have that feature on the smaller Fenix 7S I tested. I would have to sacrifice my comfort to get that feature. What is the purpose of a Wearable you don't want to wear?

This becomes unsustainable at a certain point. There is a limit to how big we can make these devices. Potential customers who live in smaller bodies should not be excluded. The current limitations of Wearable tech are just some of this. There is nothing set in stone yet. The whole idea of a ȌProȍ watch could be scrapped. I hope that these companies are using their resources to create new solutions to the problem, instead of always opting for the easy way out.