Samsung’s new smartwatches and earbuds feature stunning new designs. The former Mercedes designer is responsible for this. There’s also criticism online, as the new designs are said to resemble Apple.
Judging by the leaks of the new gadgets that Samsung will unveil on July 10, the manufacturer is making major changes to the designs of its smart watches and earphones. The new gadgets feature very bold designs for Samsung.
The main person behind Samsung’s new direction is Hubert H. Lee, a Chinese designer who was previously a key designer at Mercedes. Lee moved to Samsung in late 2022, where he heads the design team. The upcoming devices will look different from the company’s previous products thanks to his input.
This can be seen, for example, in the leaked Galaxy Buds 3 earplugs, which look much sleeker than their predecessors. They also now look more like Apple’s AirPods in terms of their stems, but many other earbuds have stems as well.
The earbuds are also said to have an LED light bar. This is reminiscent of the striking Cyberpunk-like taillight of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, which Lee designed in 2012. These kinds of details are said to be distinctive of Lee’s style.
Galaxy Watch Ultra
The Galaxy Watch Ultra, which was also leaked, will have a completely different design from Samsung’s previous smartwatches. The new watch combines a square shape with a round screen.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is drawing mixed reactions online because the watch’s body resembles that of the Apple Watch Ultra. The bright orange color of one of the straps also seems inspired by the Apple Watch.
All manufacturers are more similar
It’s no surprise that common tools are becoming increasingly similar. The design language and software experiences of many manufacturers have become closer in recent years. “The technology landscape seems more boring now that giants like Samsung and Apple are no longer pushing boundaries. It may be boring, but it has also brought more stability to the user experience. The focus is now more on improvement and a slower pace of upgrades,” says the Samsung fan site. Sammobile.
Galaxy S25 Ultra
The design changes aren’t limited to wearables, as it’s now also been leaked that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, expected early next year, will also have a different design. The S25 Ultra will be thinner and will have rounded corners, while the predecessor had somewhat sharp corners.
Samsung will unveil new Galaxy products, including the first Galaxy Ring phone and the new foldable phones Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6, during the Unpacked event on July 10. We’ll be there, so stay tuned to Samsung news via our new app.
Finally, this was one of the bold concept cars Lee designed for Mercedes: