Those smartphone-on-a-watch rumors are thought to be phony, as an unconfirmed smartwatch from Samsung only "works with phones," according to a new report today.
That would make the Samsung Galaxy Gear a companion gadget used in conjunction with an existing smartphone and not able to make calls on its own, according to The Verge.
Instead, Bluetooth and NFC could enable this Samsung smartwatch make the wrist-to-handset connection.
Pebble and Sony's forthcoming Smartwatch 2 work much the same way, as they too lack an independent SIM card and cellular radio.
IFA had a Samsung Galaxy Gear
The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch is expected to debut before long, with speculation pointing to IFA 2013 in a few weeks.
Right before the German technology conference begins, Samsung is holding an "Unpacked" event on Sept. 4, asking invitees to "Note the date."
"Note the date" naturally references the expected Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet unveiling.
But the company could also debut its smartwatch just in case it fears that Apple will pull a "one more thing" announcement of the iWatch a few days later on Sept. 10.
Every inch of the smartphone market
Samsung's smartwatch may not make calls by itself, but that's OK. The company has plenty of smartphones, including four previously unknown devices that appear in a shipping manifest dug up by a blog dedicated to the manufacturer, SamMobile.
Samsung is literally flooding every inch of the smartphone market, with the list pointing to 4-inch, 4.5-inch, 5-inch and 5.2-inch devices under the respective model numbers SM-G730A, SM-G3815, SM-G9105 and SM-G7102.
The 4-inch version will have a WVGA (800 x 480) resolution, and the 4.5-inch model will sport a qHD (540 x 960) resolution, according to the blog.
If all of these devices end up being surprise announcements at IFA 2013, Samsung's press conference may need to eschew "one more thing" in favor of "five more things."
- See what the Apple iWatch could look like.