Thank you for this. Any link to share or you heard it from personal comm?
It makes sense, since Samsung has the exclusivity to WearOS 3 for a year.
Now, there are 2 likely scenarios:
1) Such a locked-in year will end in August, after a year that Samsung released the Galaxy 4.
2) Such year would end in May, a year after Google announced WearOS 3 in collab with Samsung.
The latter scenario seems to be more likely, since the Pixel watch will be released in May, and it is unlikely that it will come without WearOS 3 out of the box. Speculating a bit, it'd give credence to the rumour that TH AD's employees are undergoing 'training' for a 'new watch' this month.
That means we could see the 'Connected Carrera E4' (thanks for that!) as soon as May.
However, I'd contest the possibility that it'll come with the 4100. Instead, the 4100+, with reportedly better battery life, seems more feasible.
(I do own a WearOS 2 with the 4100 -- Ticwatch, for the gym -- and the speed is noticeably faster. I ordered a Skagen Falster Gen 6, which has the 4100+. Let's see how that goes RE battery life).
Remember how TH chose the 3100 for the Connected Gen3 just ONE MONTH before the 4100 was released?
That ill-conceived move received a massive backlash and made a ton of tech-savvy young adults (THE niche that F.Arnault is aiming for with this one) hold off purchasing it, very aware that a noticeable faster processor was around the corner (I count myself among them, although I'd have forgiven that if another 41mm -- of which I own two -- would have been released; indeed, I happily purchased a 3100 equipped 42mm Montblanc Summit 2 for more dressy occasions. By the same token, if they don't release this time the rumored 42mm version, I'll skip it again). TH will doubtfully commit the same mistake (and yeah, they are not the same processors: check the quasi-scandal due to Mobvoi nonchalantly advertising a watch as having the 4100+ when in fact it carried the 4100).
Now, the interesting question is whether...
1) The current iteration of WearOS 3 as incompatible with iOS is so due to Samsung building its own walled-garden à la Apple (and thus, shutting iPhone users off the same way iOS shut Samsung (and non-iPhone) users off; or...
2) The current iteration of WearOS 3 as incompatible with iOS is so due to both Google and Samsung having conjointly built it like that from the ground up, so that iPhone users would have to either switch to Google's Android, or remain forever using Apple, Garmin and small proprietary OS watches (given that even with Fitbit, now Google-owned, there is a chance that Wear OS 3 will power them in the future, by admission of its own CEO).
If 1, then there's no problem for iOS users -- beyond the infamous slightly inferior experience as opposed to those with Android devices.
If 2, as I submitted before, the upgrade to WearOS 3 will be left as an option. Even Google portrays it as the best *option* (unlike most updates, non-optional in nature), promising to continue with updates to WearOS 2. So, if you want the full experience, own an Android phone and upgrade; if you want to stick to your iPhone, remain with the lesser experience -- which iPhone users by now are already domesticated to endure anyway when outside the Apple curated world.
