Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (Image courtesy of Samsung Electronics)
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – In a setback to Samsung Electronics’ ambitious healthcare expansion plans, the tech giant is facing criticism over battery drain issues in its latest smartwatch.
This comes on the heels of quality concerns surrounding its Bluetooth earphones, once again putting the company’s product reliability under scrutiny.
Reports have emerged of abnormal battery consumption in the recently launched Galaxy Watch 7.
On Samsung’s official consumer community forum, Samsung Members, a user posted on July 23: “After purchasing the Watch 7, the battery is depleting by 10% every hour. This persists even after resetting, backing up, and allowing the device to learn usage patterns.”
Similar complaints followed, with users reporting significant battery drain even with minimal feature use. One user stated, “After charging to 100% and turning off Bluetooth, the battery was at 25% after just 7 hours of sleep tracking.”
Samsung released a software update on July 30 to address the issue. However, some users reported new problems post-update, including device overheating and reduced battery life on previously unaffected units.
The effectiveness of the fix remains uncertain, warranting further observation.
Battery life is crucial for wearable devices, as longer usage times between charges correlate with higher user satisfaction.
Samsung had touted the Galaxy Watch 7′s battery life as a key selling point, claiming up to 30 hours with Always On Display (AOD) enabled and 40 hours without.
The company leveraged this purported battery improvement to enhance sleep-related features, including sleep pattern analysis, coaching for better sleep, and sleep apnea detection.
These additions complemented existing health monitoring capabilities such as heart rate, ECG, and body composition analysis.
However, with actual battery life reportedly falling to about a quarter of the advertised duration, these enhancements lose their appeal.
One frustrated consumer recounted, “When I visited the service center about the battery issue, an engineer advised me to turn off health-related features and Bluetooth. What’s the point of a smartwatch if you have to disable its core functions?”
This battery controversy, coupled with recent quality issues in Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, has raised concerns about the company’s quality control and potentially damaged brand trust.
The Buds 3 Pro faced criticism for inconsistent build quality and subpar noise cancellation, ultimately leading to a decision to offer exchanges and refunds.
An IT industry insider commented, “Samsung recently announced plans to expand its Samsung Health ecosystem through partnerships. However, with consecutive defects in their own products, this strategy seems less convincing now.”
In late May, Samsung held a ‘Samsung Health Partner Day,’ unveiling a software development kit for Samsung Health.
The company aims to create an open collaboration system where partners can develop functions based on their expertise, with Samsung distributing these through its platform.
As Samsung navigates these challenges, industry observers note that the success of its healthcare strategy will depend not only on external partnerships but also on significant improvements in product reliability and performance.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
