Having spent more than a year throwing smartwatch concepts a wall, only to discover that very few of them stick, Samsung’s taking a bit of a break from the wearables game.

But a newly-unearthed patent suggests that the South Korean tech giant could come back with a vengeance, thanks to a ripoff Apple concept bold new interface design based around an iPod-style rotating bezel. The idea would be that this rotating bezel could allow users to scroll through different apps, lists and menus without having to obscure the miniature display with their finger.

So, yeah, it’s basically the Apple Watch’s digital crown idea — only “different” enough to not be a direct analog.

Samsung’s next generation smartwatch is reportedly being developed under the name “Orbis” and could launch in Q3 this year, which would be roughly halfway through the life-cycle of the first generation Apple Watch, supposing that Apple goes with iPhone and iPad-style yearly refreshes.

As Samsung’s patent shows, Orbis could differ from the Apple Watch by going for a round face design, while reports suggest that it could be powered by an Exynos 7420 SoC, which would allow it to cut back on power consumption and improve battery life as a result.

Like Apple, Samsung is said to be pursuing a more luxury-oriented market with its new wearables device.

But other than that, the two have nothing in common, of course!

Via: GforGames