Galaxy Gear Expansion Planned as Samsung Intends to Build More Smartwatches

Samsung is continuing its expansive mobile strategy when it comes to smartwatches in a bid to expand its Galaxy Gear lineup with additional models to target more users at different price points. The South Korean consumer electronics company has made a name for itself as the largest maker of Android devices in the world with a strategy of offering devices with varying screen sizes, price points, color options, and features to target a wide demographic of users, and this game plan may once again be repeated when it comes to the emerging category of wearable devices.

Details about what features, design, and style of future Galaxy Gear watches are not known at this time, and it’s also unclear if the recently announced Galaxy Gear model represents Samsung’s flagship smartwatch offering or a mid-range or even low-end model in Samsung’s potentially growing smartwatch portfolio. At $300, the current Galaxy Gear’s pricing is about double what other manufacturers charge–Pebble‘s watch costs $149–and is priced competitive with high end watches, like the Italian-made i’m Watch.

Hitting lower price points by cutting out some high-end features could make the Galaxy Gear more appealing to entry-level users even.

Right now, the current Galaxy Gear comes in a number of color options. Samsung recognizes that a wearable device is a highly personal product and as the wearer cannot just swap out the rubber wrist strap with another one due to the camera and microphone technologies embedded in the strap, Samsung is making the watches with various different colors of bands.

And though the Galaxy Gear watch that was initially introduced will only work with the new Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition at launch, Samsung promised that it will be compatible with other Galaxy phone products after a software update on those devices. Additionally, Samsung is also looking to expand the Galaxy Gear to be compatible with other Android 4.3-based smartphones made by other companies.

In a report on SlashGear Samsung said it had considered hundreds of Galaxy Gear watch designs before settling on the design we saw unveiled ahead of the IFA show. It’s unclear if any of the scrapped models that didn’t make the final design cut will be used as another Galaxy Gear watch model in Samsung’s growing watch lineup.