As one of the world's biggest electronics manufacturers, Samsung is an important partner if you're trying to get traction for a nascent operating system. When it comes to smartwatches, Google will have to make do without the Korean juggernaut—Samsung says it's done with Android Wear.
After a chat with Samsung executives, a report from Fast Company says that "no more Samsung Android Wear devices are in development or being planned." Samsung apparently sees its in-house operating system, Tizen, as the wearable future. The report says that Samsung executives are going with Tizen because it's "far more battery-efficient than Android Wear" and "the standard OS on other Samsung products from TVs to refrigerators."
Samsung has given Android Wear a single try: the square "Galaxy Gear Live" smartwatch, which was one of the first Android Wear devices. For Tizen, the company has released the Gear S2, the Gear S, the Gear 2, and the Galaxy Gear. Android Wear recently launched a developer preview of version 2.0, which features an all-new design, new text input options, and more standalone functionality for watches with LTE modems.
Without Samsung in the mix, the Android Wear has seen hardware entries from Motorola, Huawei, LG, and even regular watch brands like Tag Heuer. Tizen, on the other hand, has a single hardware vendor: Samsung. Can Tizen really survive with only Samsung behind it?
Update: Samsung responded to this with the following message: “Samsung has not made any announcement concerning Android Wear and we have not changed our commitment to any of our platforms.”
