Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8 design was hidden in plain sight

As you all know, thanks to recent leaks, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Watch 8 series will have a so-called “squircle” design based on a perfectly circular display sitting on top of a case shaped like a square with rounded corners. The Galaxy Watch Ultra rekindled this design trend last year.

A similar design language will soon be featured prominently across Samsung's upcoming smartwatches, even the base Watch 8 model. But until recently, nobody knew what the Galaxy Watch 8 series would look like. As it turns out, the 2025 smartwatch design language was hidden in plain sight all along.

Samsung's and Google's redesigned Clock app icons held the secret to the Galaxy Watch 8 series under our noses. Both Clock icons were redone with the One UI 7 and Android 15 updates, respectively, and at a fundamental level, these new icons correspond to Samsung's Galaxy Watch 8 design principles.

Granted, you could also say that the Samsung Clock app has had a squircle design for years, but even so, I think the redesigned One UI 7 icon reflects Samsung's smartwatch design ideas more accurately.

Funnily enough, the Google Clock app for Android 15 is even more representative of the Galaxy Watch 8 design. In Android 14, Google's Clock app icon was just a circle. Now, it looks a lot like a representation of the base Galaxy Watch 8.

Given that Samsung and Google are close partners working on Wear OS together, it all seems to make a certain amount of sense.

You could chalk this Clock app icon stuff up to coincidence. But even so, I think it's a fun coincidence at the very least and an intentional Easter egg at the most.

I think Samsung and Google have hinted at the next-gen Galaxy Watch design for some time now, but we all missed it. It was hidden in plain sight. Or, again, all this might be just an odd coincidence. You can decide for yourself. Clever design? Or a happy accident?