Samsung to announce Gear S3 smartwatch in September, luxury version to follow in March 2017

Samsung is preparing to fire a third S-series rocket towards the smartwatch market. Korea Herald reported that the Samsung Gear S3's announcement is planned for the IFA 2016 conference in Berlin, Germany (September 2 - 7). The news comes courtesy of a de Grisogono official, who told the media that the Swiss jeweler and watchmaker has been collaborating with Samsung on the latter's "next-generation smartwatch." There are no technological details about it yet.

This will be a second pairing for the two, following their work on the limited edition luxury Samsung Gear S2 that was released in March this year. With the luxury Gear S3 being scheduled for an announcement in time for Baselworld 2017 (also known as the World Watch and JewelryShow) in March, it looks like the two companies will follow the same launch cycle, with the regular Gear S3 version releasing in the fall, and the one with De Grisogono swag debuting a year from now.

The official took the opportunity to boast that the Swiss watchmaker has been shipping close to a hundred Gear S2 units per month since the limited edition wearable launched. The opulent gadget, which is decorated with more than 100 black and white diamond, has a rose gold bezel and comes with a black galuchat (shark skin) strap is sold for a mere $15,000.

Although Apple reportedly owns a 52% share of the global smartwatch market, Samsung's Gear units are a relatively popular purchase in the young and still underdeveloped market. By November last year, the company was selling 2,000 units per day in South Korea, several hundred percent more than the original Gear S. The introduction of a successful luxury model will help Samsung battle its rival in the most profitable price segment, which is that watches for the rich.

source: Korea Herald