Why Samsung's big round smartwatch will be roundly dismissed

Whenever a new smartwatch debuts, the natural question is: How well will it stack up against the Apple Watch? Apple's device is, after all, the de facto champion of the category and the only product to reach any kind of breakthrough market acceptance "The market has spoken that having a rectangular smartwatch is okay, hence the success of Apple Watch," says Moor Insights & Strategy principle analyst Patrick Moorhead "But this doesn't prove that consumers have rejected round smartwatches" Large versions:Samsung Galaxy Watch: 46mm x 49mm x 13mmApple Watch: 425mm x 364mm x 114mm.

Small versions:Samsung Galaxy Watch: 41.9mm x 45.7mm x 12.7mmApple Watch: 38.6mm x 33.3mm x 11.4mm Samsung's round design is forcing the company into releasing large smartwatches, and I don't think most prospective smartwatch buyers want that On the software side, Apple analyst Neil Cybart pointed out in a recent subscriber email that the kind of data a smartwatch needs to provide displays better on a square or rectangular watch face.

The difference in the way content displays on the watch faces of Apple versus Samsung smartwatches will come into even sharper relief when Apple announces the next Apple Watch this fall A round watch design makes complete sense when two or three clock hands sweep a watch face in the circular motion to mark the time My friend Ari Roisman, the CEO of Glide, points out that Apple already adapts round elements in the Watch's OS-just look at the shape of many of the watch faces, and the roundish grouping of the icons in the app screen, not to mention the rounded side button and corners of the device itself. Source