Blog

Apple has been basking on the launch of the iPhone 15 series this month but the company had other weapons in its armoury, which includes the new Apple Watch Series 9 and the Watch Ultra 2. Apple changed the dynamics of the industry over the years when it decided to remove the headphone jack from the iPhones, and every other brand followed the trick.

Similarly, Apple brought the Dynamic Island notch with the iPhone 14 Pros and now we have seen Android phones offering similar features. The company will understandably claim that the new double-tap gesture on the Apple Watch Series 9 is a refreshing addition to its smartwatch that will help millions.

But here’s the thing, Apple is not the first to offer this feature, and the Apple Watch Series 9 is not the first device to have the support. In fact, that laurel goes to its closest competitor Samsung which has offered tap gesture support on the Galaxy Watch 4, Watch 5 and the latest Watch 6 series. The feature is offered via the One UI 5 Watch version which is based on the Wear OS 4 platform that has been jointly developed by Google and Samsung.

Samsung’s Galaxy smartwatches launched in the past 2 years have this gesture support which allows users to control different settings simply by making a fist, tapping the thumb with the index finger and more. Samsung calls its feature Universal Gestures.

These are not enabled by default but you can head over to the Settings page on the Galaxy Watch 4/5/6 and look for the feature in the Accessibility section. Once you enable it, Samsung will give you multiple options like ‘shake’, ‘nod’ and ‘knock-knock’ gesture modes for the smartwatch.

Apple Watch Series 9 has been priced at Rs 41,900 for the base model, while the Watch Ultra 2 starting price in India is Rs 89,900. Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 series is also available for upwards of Rs 40,000 in the country.