Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8 Gets a Slim Makeover, Gemini AI, and a Surprising New Health Check

Lahore, Pakistan – July 9, 2025 – Alongside its stunning new foldable phones, Samsung has given its wearable lineup a major and meaningful overhaul with the debut of the Galaxy Watch 8 series. Unveiled at today's Unpacked event, the new smartwatches feature a dramatically slimmer profile, a refreshed design, and powerful new software, including the first-ever integration of Google's Gemini AI on a Samsung watch. But the most talked-about feature might just be a novel health test that promises to measure the antioxidant levels in your body.

A Major Redesign: The Slimmest Samsung Watch Ever

The first thing you'll notice about the Galaxy Watch 8 is its new physique. Samsung proudly claims this is the slimmest smartwatch it has ever made, measuring just 8.6mm thick, which is about 11 percent thinner than the Watch 7.

The aesthetic has also been updated, adopting the "cushion design" first seen on last year's Watch Ultra. The round screen now appears to be encased in a soft, squarish aluminum frame. While it might look a bit unusual in photos, it's a design that looks and feels more premium in person. The new watches also include a "dynamic lug system," which makes swapping bands a breeze and minimizes the gap between the watch and your wrist for a more seamless fit.

For those who love a tactile experience, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic makes a welcome return. This popular model brings back the fan-favorite physical rotating bezel for navigating menus and apps, and will be available in a single 46mm size. Both the standard and Classic versions feature incredibly bright displays that can now reach up to 3,000 nits, ensuring perfect readability even in the harshest sunlight.

Wear OS 6 and the Power of Gemini

The Galaxy Watch 8 series is the first to ship with the new Wear OS 6, and the software improvements are immediately noticeable. The user interface has been refreshed, with testers noting that it "made the screen feel roomier." The new operating system also brings tangible benefits to battery life and enhances the always-on display functionality.

The headline feature, however, is the full integration of Google's AI assistant, Gemini. This brings a new level of intelligence to your wrist, allowing for more natural language queries and a more powerful, conversational assistant than ever before on a wearable.

A New Window Into Your Health

Samsung is pushing the boundaries of wearable health tracking with a groundbreaking new feature: a test that claims to gauge the antioxidant levels in your body. By leveraging the watch's optical sensors, you can get a reading that could offer insights into your body's ability to fight cellular damage.

During a hands-on demo, the feature delivered a "low" antioxidant rating to one tester, a result that, while its accuracy is yet to be clinically verified, certainly served as motivation to eat more vegetables. It's a fascinating and potentially impactful tool that we'll be eager to test further in our full review. In addition to the antioxidant test, the Watch 8 series will also provide new insights into vascular load, offer guidance during runs, and provide bedtime suggestions to improve sleep quality.

Pricing and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series is available for pre-order right now, with general availability beginning on July 25th.

• The standard Galaxy Watch 8 starts at $350 and is available in 40mm and 44mm sizes.

• The Galaxy Watch 8 Classic starts at $500.

Samsung also announced a minor update to the Galaxy Watch Ultra, which now comes in a new color and features an increased 64GB of storage. With a sleeker design, smarter software, and pioneering health features, the Galaxy Watch 8 series represents a significant step forward for Samsung's already impressive wearable lineup.