5 Powerful Smartwatches That Can Replace Your Galaxy Watch

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For Android phone owners, defaulting to the latest Samsung Galaxy Watch can be tempting. After all, Samsung makes quality smartwatches, but it’s worth remembering that many other brands offer viable alternatives. Google, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Garmin all offer great options, with the first three offering a familiar Wear OS experience and Garmin offering its fitness and outdoor-focused Garmin OS.

The best alternative can be subjective, so when comparing brands to Samsung’s latest offering, the Galaxy Watch 9, I consider battery life, fitness features, and price. Methodically approaching the smartwatch market like this has given choices to almost anyone looking for a Samsung alternative, with at least one of the aforementioned criteria surpassing the Galaxy Watch 9.

Some people own more than one smartwatch for various reasons, which seems wrong to me. I made sure to research every alternative so that nothing is overlooked, ensuring that buyers buy the smartwatch that’s right for them. Buyers shouldn’t have to buy one smartwatch for exercising, one for messaging, and another for going out at night. For those who like the vibe of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, most of the alternatives here run Wear OS and should, for the most part, feel familiar.

Google’s Pixel Watch 4 is a versatile and polished Wear OS device, even though it’s now a generation old. It includes a fresh install of Wear OS 6, the curved display that has become a staple of the lineup, and Fitbit health tracking starting at $329.99 for the 41mm LTE model.

Breaking down the specs, the display is a 1.4-inch curved LTPO AMOLED “Actua 360” glass with a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, which is 1,000 nits more than the Pixel Watch 3 and a 10% larger screen. It also has a Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 processor, 32 GB of internal storage and 2 GB of RAM.

It’s hard too. The curved screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and an aluminum frame. It comes in 41mm and 45mm sizes, which weigh 31 grams and 36.7 grams, respectively. Battery life is about 2 days with light usage, it can quickly charge to 50% in 15 minutes and reach 100% in about 45 minutes to an hour. The side-spin crown and side button combination is back, which can be a bit too small and stiff to use. Other minor issues would be the proprietary band connectors and the Pixel Watch 4 requiring the Fitbit app and Google Pixel Watch to work properly.

The Google Pixel Watch 5 maintains the same design as the previous generation, but offers double the storage, Gemini offline functionality, better GPS and heart rate accuracy, and Health Guardian. It’ll cost you $100 more than the Pixel Watch 4 for the 45mm Bluetooth model at $429.99, or $200 more for the LTE model at $529.99.

Based on how much people value higher specs, the Pixel Watch 5 is a big step up from the last generation. It has double the storage with 64GB, 3GB of RAM, and about a 12% CPU gain with an improved Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 accelerated chip. One notable exclusive feature is the ability to run Gemini offline on the Pixel Watch 5. For now, it only handles small tasks like setting timers, turning on the flashlight, and basic fitness controls like starting and ending a workout.

Health Guardian is a big bonus though. It has loss of pulse detection, respiratory emergency recognition, and blood pressure tracking, and tracking insulin resistance trends will arrive later this year pending FDA approval. Battery life this time around is closer to just over 24 hours, but it can also quickly charge to 100% in under 45 minutes. The Pixel Watch 5 comes with Wear OS 7, with better device controls and more Gemini features coming later.

For buyers looking for the best battery life without sacrificing overall specs, the Xiaomi Watch 5 is a great choice. Its battery is a 930 mAh Si-C, which means it’s a stacked cell containing about 10% silicon-carbon. This translates to about five full days of battery life in smart mode with heavy use, and almost two weeks in power saving mode, which is a giant leap from the Galaxy Watches’ 24-hour battery with moderate use.

This powers a dual chipset configuration, specifically a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 paired with a BES2800 coprocessor. This combination allows the Xiaomi Watch 5 to support dual operating systems, Wear OS 6 for smart mode and Xiaomi Vela OS for power saving mode. Switching between them requires a reboot, but it’s a very good idea, especially for the very competitive price of $260.99 (MSRP $334.60).

The display is a 1.54-inch AMOLED with sapphire glass front and back, which has a rating of 9 out of 10 on the Mohs scale, just behind diamond. It will take a lot of damage to scratch this glass. It weighs 56g, has a 316L stainless steel body, rotating crown, hotkey and fits standard 22mm bracelets. The only downsides here are the lack of LTE, ECG or HRV support on the international version, but for the price and solid features where they count, you can forgive the missing features.

The OnePlus Watch 4 is the answer to the Xiaomi Watch 5’s shortcomings while featuring similar specs and technology, but is priced more in line with the Samsung Galaxy Watch9 at $429 MSRP. The OnePlus Watch 4 is about $30 cheaper than the 44mm LTE model, but only supports Bluetooth connectivity. For most people, this isn’t a problem since their smartphones are never far away, but for buyers who plan to connect a smartwatch to their network provider, it’s not a great choice.

The battery is a 646mAh Si-C battery, which is slightly smaller than the Xiaomi Watch 5, but still offers an equally long battery life of 5 days in smart mode and up to 16 days in power saving mode. The dual-chipset configuration is a Snapdragon W5 SoC running Wear OS 7 for Smart mode, combined with a low-power BES2800 coprocessor running OxygenOS Watch 8 for Power Saver mode.

It features a 1.5-inch LTPO AMOLED sapphire glass display housed in a titanium alloy frame that boasts a peak of 3,000 nits. It’s lighter than the previous generation, weighing 43g and featuring a better strap design that now lies flat on the user’s wrist. It’s built to last with 5ATM and IP68/IP69 ratings, meaning a user could hose down this watch, and it would be fine. I advise against doing this, but for any readers who do it anyway, let me know how it goes.

For buyers wanting a fitness-focused smartwatch rather than the usual features of a smartwatch, the Garmin Venu 4 won’t disappoint at $499.99 (MSRP $549.99). The battery lasts about 10 days on the 41mm model, with a 25-day battery saver mode, about 4 days with an always-on display, and about 20 hours in GPS-only mode.

The fitness features of this smartwatch are impressive. Multi-band GPS, Body Battery, Workout Readiness, HRV Status, Suggested Workouts, ECG App, Pulse Ox, Sleep Coach and a dedicated LED flashlight should keep gym and running enthusiasts happy on the darkest nights. The screen isn’t as durable as the other smartwatches in this article, but it’s still a 1.4-inch AMOLED Gorilla Glass 3 display housed in a stainless steel case. The quick release bands are also the industry standard at 22mm, so it’s easy to change styles when needed.

Other smart features include notifications, Garmin Pay, music storage, voice assistant, and calling directly from the Garmin Venu 4. The user interface doesn’t hold up to the well-optimized Wear OS, so if buyers care about fitness features and solid GPS capabilities, it won’t be a good buy. But Garmin’s long support window for its smartwatches might turn some heads.

I chose these five Samsung Galaxy Watch alternatives because each has a feature that significantly blows the Galaxy Watch 9 out of the water. Together, they run the gamut of what a smartwatch buyer might prioritize; battery life, fitness, ecosystem, build and value.

Every choice except the fitness and GPS-focused Garmin Venu 4 runs Wear OS, which is one of the main features to compare with the Galaxy Watch, and are all 2025/2026 models available in the US. The research involved collecting various reviews and first impressions from GSMArena and CNET while cross-checking consumer reviews and official specifications.

Despite common smartwatch myths that readers may have heard, there is no solid answer to the best smartwatch alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Watch. It all depends on the user’s priorities; Google Pixel Watch 4/5 offers the best version of Wear OS, Xiaomi/OnePlus is for battery life and Garmin is for fitness. Smartwatches all cater to different use cases, so it’s a good idea to think about how a smartwatch would be used in your daily life, then opt for a brand and model that will work best. For example, I would be more interested in a feature set that allows smartwatches to function like a smartphone with fitness benefits. So my Google Pixel Watch 3 meets my needs, but yours may differ.