Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic vs Galaxy Watch 5 Pro: Should you upgrade? 

After a one-year gap, the latest generation Samsung smartwatch returns to the Classic moniker with the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. So, with the new smartwatch, the rotating bezel and the stainless steel build mark their return, along with a 1mm increase in case sizes over the Watch 4 Classic. But, the Watch 6 Classic is instead the upgrade to last year’s Watch 5 Pro. Also, with Samsung deciding to sell the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro side by side with the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, who exactly should buy the newer model? Also, for the ones who already have a Watch 5 Pro or even a Watch 4 Classic, should you upgrade? Let’s find out.

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic vs Watch 5 Pro: Design

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic retains the round aesthetic of traditional timepieces, and the 47mm variant that I have received for testing, looks absolutely classy. Now, compared to the Watch 5 Pro, the Watch 6 Classic features a smaller battery, something I will talk about in a bit, but despite that, the Watch 6 Classic is actually a hair thicker and about 13 grams heavier than the Watch 5 Pro. Of course, the increase in weight has to do with the stainless steel build vs the titanium build on the Watch 5 Pro, which by the way, is lighter and resistant. Nevertheless, after using the Watch 6 Classic day in and day out, yes, the heft is there, but I got used to it.

Okay, the rotating bezel is back, and while I have heard from many how aesthetic it looks, and how satisfying it feels to rotate, I think, practically, it makes a lot of sense. Fidgeting with it is fun, and there’s this audible click also that sounds so satisfying whenever you rotate it. However, the most important thing the rotating bezel does, is how accurate the rotations, and how accurate landing on an action feels versus the touch bezel on the Watch 5 Pro, which I often found quite inconsistent.

Finally, there’s a high-quality rubber-material wristband that gives you the leather "feels". The best part, unlike the Watch 5 Pro’s band, you simply press a button and the band immediately pops out on the Watch 6 Classic. And since the Samsung Watch 6 Classic supports the 20mm watch band standard, the choices of bands — first party and third party are a lot.

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic vs Watch 5 Pro: Display

The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic comes in two variants — 43mm and 47mm, having 1.3 inches and 1.5 inches large Super AMOLED displays onboard. I have tested the larger variant, and the display on this watch is top-notch. It is sharp, it is vibrant, but most importantly, it is brighter than ever, and probably the brightest on any smartwatch right now.

So, brightness is claimed to reach up to 2000 nits at peak, which is double than what the Apple Watch Ultra can hit. And while I don’t have the exact tools to test the claims, I can surely say, that compared to my Apple Watch Series 7, my Galaxy Watch 4, and of course, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the Watch 6 Classic is the brightest smartwatch I have ever used, period!

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic vs Watch 5 Pro: Battery

In the design section above, I mentioned that the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic has a smaller 425mAh battery versus the 590mAh battery inside the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Couple this battery with an improved and faster Exynos W930 processor — and while the Watch 6 Classic’s performance is top-tier, it comes at the cost of battery life.

You see, with this hardware that you get on the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, the device is fast and snappy in day-to-day operations. However, the battery life isn’t as good as the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro. Not that the battery life is bad on the Watch 6 Classic. Instead, with always-on display and adaptive brightness turned on, Samsung claims 30 hours of battery life, and in my testing, I was consistently hitting 25-30 hours of battery life on my Watch 6 Classic, with all health sensors turned on, always-on display enabled and adaptive brightness enabled. And, before plugging the watch into the charger, I always had about 10-15% battery left, so depending on my usage, if I had gone for a 100 to 0% drain, the Watch 6 Classic might have hit the magic number Samsung claims.

As for charging times, a 15% to 100% charge using a PD charger took about 80 minutes, which is quite decent in the smartwatch world, and definitely faster than the likes of the Watch 5 Pro or even the Apple Watch Ultra.

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic vs Watch 5 Pro: Software and performance

On the software front, there’s OneUI 5.0 for the Watch atop Wear OS 4, which also makes it the first Android smartwatch in the world with the latest Watch OS release, ahead of the Pixel Watch. That said, Wear OS 4 on the Watch 6 Classic is more about refinement, and anyone who has used Wear OS 3.5 will feel right at home.

However, a couple of differences that I did notice, was the Samsung Wallet integration, which now lets you tap and pay with your Watch. One other thing that I noticed is that, on top of 100 different available workouts, you can now set a custom workout, and you can also record those custom workout routines, so I am sure, fitness enthusiasts are surely going to appreciate this.

Apart from this, fitness tracking is right on the money, and features such as step tracking, heart rate monitoring and blood oxygen monitoring are quite accurate, and right in line with the Watch 5 Pro. And similar to the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic can also take ECG and Blood Pressure measurements, although the features are not available for the Indian market, at least for now. However, what works incredibly well is sleep tracking. It is brilliant and accurate and gives you quite a lot of insights, including your snoring data. Finally, the general performance of the Watch 6 Classic has been snappy. App opening times are fast, and touch and taps are responsive.

To control the watch with your phone, there’s the Galaxy Wear app. I paired it with my Galaxy Z Fold 5, and with the app, you get all the granular controls, such as setting up watch faces, the app screen, widgets or the Watch settings. In fact, since my Watch 6 Classic is LTE, often at night, I leave my phone at home and go out to meet someone.

Additionally, while the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic uses a faster processor than the Watch 5 Pro, in the real world, I didn’t see any noticeable performance jumps on the Watch 6 Classic over the Watch 5 Pro. However, the rotating bezel does add an extra bit of speed and practicality in day-to-day usage.

Summing up

Long story short, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro are more or less the same watches, with the Classic having the advantage of the physical rotating bezel, and the Pro having the advantage of the longer battery life.

Now, first up, if you have a Watch 5 Pro, I wouldn’t suggest you go for the Watch 6 Classic, unless and until, you really want the physical rotating bezel. Because, while the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro misses out on the physical rotating bezel, it does give you the advantage of superb battery life, and somewhat better durability, because Titanium is a slightly superior material to steel.

However, when it comes to buying a new smartwatch, and the choice comes down between the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, my personal recommendation would be the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, and my reasons are as follows.

— First up, the choices. The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is available in 43mm and 47mm size options, so depending on your preference, you can go for whichever size you prefer. Although I would suggest the size difference isn’t that drastic, between 43 and 47mm, so for better battery life, go for the 47mm variant.

— Now, once the size is sorted, the 47mm variant of the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is bigger, brighter and even the LTE version is cheaper by Rs 1,000 than the Bluetooth version of the Watch 5 Pro.

— Next up, the rotating bezel on the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is practical, both in terms of function as well as style.

— And speaking of style, it’s a subjective take, but the silver colour of the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is a looker, and the Watch 5 Pro doesn’t come anywhere close to it.

All in all, the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic is refined, brings back the classic rotating bezel, looks good, is priced really well, and depending on your mileage, it should be able to give you 1 to 1.5 days of battery life. That said, if you’re a pro-grade fitness enthusiast, and say, at least 2 days of battery life is something that really matters to you — in that case, you should be better off with the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.