Lately, there's been a lot of talk about smartwatches evolving towards a more independent model from smartphones. The latest trend suggests that these devices are incorporating more payment functions, local storage, and even basic processing capabilities without needing to be connected to the phone. Do you think this is the future or just a commercial strategy? For now, battery and performance limitations remain clear barriers, but progress in chips and optimization could change things soon. To what extent do you see this total autonomy as viable?
Will smartwatches become independent from phones?
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That’s been floating around the industry for a while now, but the idea of full independence still feels like it’s missing that final push. Apple, with its Series and Watch Ultra models, is clearly aiming for it—offline music storage, health data processing without needing the iPhone as a middleman, even NFC payments without the phone nearby. Google’s doing the same on Wear OS with Spotify, offline Google Maps, and file storage, but here’s the catch: how long can these watches last before they become obsolete without your phone giving them a break?
It’s not just business strategy, but almost. Manufacturers pack in those features because they see users wanting fitness tracking, payments, and health monitoring all in one device—and if that device can go about its business without needing to be in your jacket pocket, even better. But if you dig into the ecosystem, a truly standalone smartwatch still limps along: apps are just stripped-down versions of what you have on your phone, battery life in full independence mode drains like a rocket, and the kicker—if you lose your phone connection or cloud access, you’re left with a brick when you’re out for a run and realize you forgot your phone at home.
What we’re seeing is a two-speed game: those betting on partial independence so the watch isn’t just a simple accessory (Apple, Samsung, Garmin) and those trying to push it to the extreme (Huawei with the Watch 4 and Watch GT), though with clear limitations. The future? It depends on what you mean by “independent.” If it’s about not relying on your phone for the basics, we’re already there. If it’s about ditching the smartphone entirely for almost everything, we still need more efficient hardware and less power-hungry software.
Hahaha I'm following this so far behind that if I were to answer this question, I'd say smartwatches would probably be able to make calls via GSM signal at best 😂😬 Or maybe laptops with 1 GB of RAM would just go into sleep mode!
A couple of months ago I switched to the **Galaxy Watch 7**, and honestly, the independence from my phone works better than I expected. I spent weeks testing it out, but now I even use it for Spotify at the gym without having my phone nearby, I store up to 25 GB of offline music, and I’ve even edited notes with the virtual keyboard when I forgot my laptop. That said, the battery isn’t great—if I overuse LTE or local storage, it dies in a day.
But what I love the most is paying with it without taking my wallet out. At the corner store, on the subway… just tap it on the POS. Before, I kept my card on the watch but always forgot to take it out, now everything’s on the same device. The only downside? If it’s left at home with no battery, goodbye independence—I have to go back to my phone to track it down.