The Gear 2 saw Samsung switch its smartwatch software to Tizen, and the company also updated its original Gear smartwatch to its home brewed operating system. When the Samsung Z1 was released, it was rather ironic to see the company's Tizen phone didn't support its smartwatches, but given the extremely low-end nature of the Z1, it wasn't surprising that smartwatch support wasn't a part of the feature list.
Fast forward to 2015, and Samsung made a great move by announcing that the Gear S2 would be compatible with Android devices in general despite running Tizen. According to Tizen Experts, the Gear S2 will also be compatible with the Z3, Samsung's upcoming Tizen smartphone. The Z3 will reportedly come with a native Gear Manager app for connecting with the Gear S2, with the app finally in a stable state after being seen in the testing stages last year.
Smartwatches are only set to become more popular and mainstream in the coming years, and while consumers buying the Z3 won't be too inclined to buy the Gear S2 considering the watch will be costlier than the phone itself, it would provide a good starting point for Samsung for bringing support for smartwatches to the operating system.
