With subsequent 12 months marking the tenth anniversary of the Apple Watch, Apple could also be getting ready to offer it a big design overhaul to mark the event.
From what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says in his newest Energy On e-newsletter, the 2024 Apple Watch might be to the wearable what the iPhone X was to Apple’s smartphone lineup — a brand new design that adjustments the sport for the following ten years of the Apple Watch.
Gurman speculates that Apple could even select to name the following mannequin the “Apple Watch X,” though, like most Apple product names, that’s removed from sure. Nonetheless, in contrast to the transition from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X, the designator can be applicable this time round in its function as a Roman numeral. In any case, if Apple follows conference, subsequent 12 months’s wearable needs to be the Apple Watch Collection 10.
Though Gurman doesn’t have a lot to say concerning the specifics of the brand new design, he notes that it will likely be “the largest overhaul but” to make it thinner and probably introduce a brand new magnetic attachment system for Apple Watch bands.
Sources say that Apple has been exploring this technique for some time; nevertheless, Gurman says it’s not clear if it will likely be prepared in time for the “Watch X revamp.” The present slot mechanism for attaching bands takes up “a substantial quantity of area” that might be used for different elements, these concerned in growing new Apple Watches informed Gurman.
Nonetheless, such a choice wouldn’t be taken frivolously by Apple, as it might finish a decade’s price of backward compatibility. Even in the present day’s Apple Watch Extremely can use bands made for the unique 42mm Apple Watch “Collection 0” launched in 2015; a change to the attachment system would make the huge assortment of watch bands and straps which might be already available on the market incompatible with the brand new “Apple Watch X.”
Considerably, Gurman makes no point out of the rumored Apple Watch Collection 7 redesign that by no means appeared. That’s in all probability one thing the rumor mill would reasonably neglect, and the omission seemingly guidelines out any hypothesis that these experiences have been based mostly on leaked details about an early prototype for the “Apple Watch X.” Nonetheless, the suggestion of a significant overhaul definitely sparks the creativeness about what that would entail.
One factor that appears inevitable is that the following ”Apple Watch X” can be a breath of contemporary air after practically a decade of staid design. Whereas the Apple Watch has grown in measurement twice — from the Collection 3 to Collection 4 and Collection 6 to Collection 7 — the general feel and appear hasn’t modified considerably in that point. An untrained eye would have a troublesome time telling an Apple Watch Collection 8 aside from an Apple Watch Collection 0 with out a side-by-side measurement comparability.
After all, Apple modified issues up final 12 months with the Apple Watch Extremely — a much bigger and bolder mannequin that featured a modern titanium casing — however when you get previous the intrepid design, it’s nonetheless the standard Apple Watch aesthetic, with the identical rounded edges and strap attachment system.
By all experiences, this 12 months’s Apple Watch fashions might be equally uninspired, with similar designs for each the Apple Watch Collection 9 and a second-generation Apple Watch Extremely which will do little greater than add a brand new splash of coloration — or darkish gray within the case of the titanium adventurer’s mannequin.
Below the hood, we’ll get a brand new S9 chip that’s really anticipated to maneuver the efficiency needle for the primary time in years; prior S-series chips have basically simply been numerical increments of the identical silicon. A lot of the magic might be in watchOS 10, but it surely’s not but clear how a lot quicker an Apple Watch chip must be; perhaps Apple has some surprises to point out us when it unveils the brand new fashions subsequent month.
Though most experiences have prompt the brand new microLED show know-how that Apple is engaged on will come to the Apple Watch Extremely first, subsequent 12 months’s “Apple Watch X” might be a superb alternative to introduce it to your entire lineup in the identical approach the iPhone X ushered within the period of OLED iPhones.
New well being sensors are at all times a chance as effectively, however these are rather more nebulous. Apple has been onerous at work on some vital well being applied sciences for years, however a few of these are robust nuts to crack on the subject of getting the form of accuracy and reliability crucial for issues like blood glucose and blood strain monitoring.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]