A patent showcases future Samsung smartwatch... with built-in projector

One of the main limitations of modern-day wearables is the fact that they simply cannot function properly without the smartphone they have been paired with. This is largely (pun intended) because of the smaller screen real estate, which in turn prevents smartwatches from properly executing a wide range of tasks efficiently.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $199.99 with trade-in

The S23 Ultra is now officially in stores. Get up to $750 instant trade-in credit, and $100 instant credit from Samsung with the purchase. The phone starts at $199.99 with an eligible trade-in for AT&T or T-Mobile.

$1180 off (86%) Trade-in

$199 ⁹⁹

$1379 ⁹⁹

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy S23 Plus starts at $119.99

You can now get the Galaxy S23 Plus with up to $700 in trade-in discount from Samsung. Save even more if you go for T-Mobile or AT&T.

$1000 off (89%) Trade-in

$119 ⁹⁹

$1119 ⁹⁹

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy S23 for free with trade-in (AT&T and T-Mobile), save on unlocked model too

Go with T-Mobile or AT&T right off the bat and you can pay nothing for a vanilla S23 with 256GB storage (with an eligible trade-in). Verizon's version starts at $59.99 with trade-in. Or pick an unlocked model and cough up $159.99 after trade-in credits.

$860 off (100%) Trade-in

$0

$859 ⁹⁹

Buy at Samsung

We have seen companies pushing the size limits of wearables in the past couple of years with devices like the Apple Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro (which are some of the best smartwatches in 2023), but there is only so much one can fit on their hand. Unless, you add a projector to the equation, that is. It seem Samsung could do just that in the future,

A new patent by the Korean tech giant showcases an interesting workaround for the aforementioned conundrum. According to the source, future Samsung wearables could feature a built-in projector that could enable the device to display more information on the hand of the user when necessary. This patent was first spotted and covered by GSMArena in a dedicated article.

Essentially, this would enable wearables to retain a more reasonable size footprint, with the added option of projecting an image on a person’s hand when more screen real estate is required. Theoretically, users could be able to interact with the projected image, which would allow it to double as an input method as well.

The possible applications of this feature are seemingly endless. Nevertheless, at least two things should be kept in mind. Firstly, the vast majority of patents filed by big tech giants never materialize. So the odds of a Samsung smartwatch with a built-in projector launching in the near future are not necessarily very high.

Secondly, Samsung already tried putting a projector in a mobile device once in the past. It goes without saying that the Samsung Galaxy Beam did not revolutionize the smartphone industry. Thus, even if we see a Galaxy Watch Beam, there is no guarantee that it will be anything more than an interesting gimmick.