Samsung Gear S3 Release Date Update, Latest News: Smartwatch To Hit US Market Shelves On November 18; Will It Outperform Apple Watch 2?

Unveiled at the IFA 2016 Berlin event stage, the highly anticipated Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch is currently up for pre-orders in the US for $349.99 via select third-party retail stores as well as Samsung websites. Notably, the next gen Samsung Gear S3 has already been rolled out in South Korea beginning Friday, November 11. The smartwatch will hit market shelves in the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, Dubai and Singapore on 18 November.

What's unique about the new smartwatch is that it's reportedly the first device coming from the tech giant which connects to higher-speed LTE networks. The Samsung Gear S3 has been rolled out in three variants- Classic, Frontier, and Frontier LTE.

 The Classic and the Frontier Gear S3 models feature the same specs including 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display with 360 x 360 resolution and Gorilla Glass SR+ screen protection, Samsung's Exynos 7270 dual 1GHz processor, Tizen OS, 768MB RAM, 4GB of storage and built-in GPS. However, the two smartwatch differs in terms of physical appearance. While, the Classic model features a stainless steel body and rotating bezel and gives a luxury watch feel, the Frontier Gear S3 variant has a rugged exterior look. The Frontier version weighs in at 62 grams and the Classic version at 57 grams. The third out of the lot, the Frontier LTE edition supports high-speed wireless Internet connectivity.

Notably, wearers will be able to send text messages, track location, as well as stream music from Spotify using the new Samsung smartwatch without depending on the smartphone. There's also support for Samsung Pay, speedometer, an alti/barometer, handwriting recognition, SOS signaling and a built-in speaker for voice messaging.

The Gear S3 smartwatch, as claimed by the tech giant, meets IP68 water resistance standards, and can survive in waters of 5 feet for nearly 30 minutes. The newly introduced wearables feature 380 mAh batteries which is expected to last up to four days on a single charge. Tech enthusiasts are speculating that Samsung Gear S3 will give a tough competition to Apple Watch Series 2.

Stay tuned to SWR for more updates and latest news on Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch.