LIVE FROM CES 2016: Samsung’s press event this afternoon focused on its new range of smart TVs and connected home appliances, but it was the revelation that the company’s Gear S2 smartwatch will support iOS later this year that drew the loudest gasps from the audience.

“Samsung embraces open platforms,” said the company’s VP of America Product Marketing Alanna Cotton, before revealing the Apple news.

Samsung has previously kept its smartwatches locked to its own phones. As with Samsung’s earlier smartwatches, Gear S2 is powered by Samsung’s own Tizen platform (rather than Google’s Android Wear, for example).

The news comes as Samsung unveiled two new colours for its Gear S2 (rose gold and platinum), which launched late last year. Both are expected to be a higher price than the $300 price tag of the original.

The Gear S2 will also receive Samsung Pay this year. And on the subject of the payment service, Samsung said it will take Samsung Pay to new markets in 2016 in an effort to more closely compete with Apple Pay and Android Pay. New markets prepped for launch are Australia, Singapore and Brazil, in addition to previous Samsung Pay launches in the UK, US, South Korea, Spain and China.

Another mobile device announcement from the South Korean vendor focused on the launch of its Galaxy TabPro S, a 12-inch product powered by the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system that is believed to be the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 tablet on the market today (and a potential rival to Microsoft’s Surface Pro).