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iPhone users now have a better option than the Apple Watch, and it comes from Samsung

There was an audible gasp when Samsung announced Tuesday that it would make its latest smartwatch compatible with the iPhone.

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But it’s happening. The Gear S2, Samsung’s well-reviewed but mostly ignored smartwatch, is coming to the iPhone soon, Samsung says. And that means the Apple Watch finally has some real competition on its home turf.

The Gear S2 launched last fall, but it didn’t exactly generate the same kind of buzz the Apple Watch did. It was Samsung’s seventh attempt at making a smartwatch in two years, after all, and it was tough to give Samsung the benefit of the doubt this time around.

Samsung Gear S2
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

But things were different with the Gear S2. Unlike the chunky and unattractive models that came before it, the Gear S2 looked good. Even better, its user interface was reimagined with a clever rotating bezel that lets you cycle through menus, making navigation fluid and natural.

The Apple Watch, on the other hand, takes at least a day of tapping and swiping and pushing to figure out. But I felt comfortable with the Gear S2 within minutes. Plus, unlike the Apple Watch, the Gear S2 isn’t bogged down with a lot of unnecessary features like sluggish apps that try too hard to recreate the smartphone experience on a tiny screen.

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So why would Samsung bring the watch to its biggest rival instead of keeping a superior product tied to its own phone?

samsung ces keynote 5277 gear s2
Samsung VP of mobile marketing Alanna Cotton. Melia Robinson

According to Alanna Cotton, Samsung’s VP of mobile marketing, Samsung is expanding the open platform of its latest line of gadgets. When the Gear S2 launched in the fall, it was compatible with most Android phones, not just Samsung phones. Samsung’s new philosophy seems to be getting its products into the hands of all users, no matter what platform they choose.

“The interesting thing about an open platform is it does invite more people in,” Cotton said in an interview with Tech Insider following Samsung’s CES keynote Tuesday. “That’s where the world is going… it opens up the possibility to create a good experience."

That’s one way to look at it.

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But Samsung’s mobile business has been going through a rough time over the last few years as other smartphone manufacturers have figured out how to make great devices that cost significantly less than Samsung’s products. Samsung has been on a hunt for the next big thing, but so far it’s hit nothing but dead ends. By now, it’s pretty clear smartwatches can’t replace the smartphone.

Maybe opening up the Gear S2 to iPhone users will entice some to switch to a Galaxy phone. Maybe Samsung will sell enough Gear S2s to make up for its dwindling smartphone sales. But both of those scenarios seem incredibly farfetched.

At the very least, iPhone users have a better option than the Apple Watch.

Samsung Apple Watch
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