Rumors, leaks, and what we all know

The Apple Watch was initially pitched as an formidable sequel to the iPhone. The unique launch was a combination of a futuristic communication gadget, a tiny app-based pc, and a health instrument, but it surely wasn’t spectacularly nice at any of these expertise. Due to years of refinement and an entire revamp of watchOS, we now have the wearable we all know and love in the present day: a well being and health tracker that has deep integrations with Apple’s iPhone and subscription companies.

Not a foul change, all informed, however a reasonably dramatic discount in ambition when you think about how Apple imagined folks can be sending one another recordings of their coronary heart beat due to its smartwatch.

And but, regardless of that gradual streamlining, the Apple Watch’s look has remained remarkably consistent throughout the final decade. If rumors and stories are to be believed, the Apple Watch Sequence 10 or “Apple Watch X” may not be the dramatic shift you’d anticipate from a tenth anniversary product, and never almost as dramatic because the transfer to the iPhone X was. That does not imply what’s new will not be helpful, although. Here is every little thing we all know in regards to the subsequent Apple Watch forward of it getting introduced later this yr.

When will the Apple Watch Sequence 10 be introduced?

Apple Watch bulletins are sometimes bundled alongside the iPhone. The Apple Watch Series 9 was introduced alongside the iPhone 15, the Apple Watch Series 8 was introduced alongside the iPhone 14, and so on. It is a sample that is sensible as a result of, whereas a mobile Apple Watch or Apple Watch Ultra can be utilized by itself, these are essentially equipment to a smartphone, displaying smartphone notifications and controlling playback of media in smartphone apps, to call simply two issues the Apple Watch can be utilized for.

We can’t know a agency date till later this yr, however contemplating Apple tends to announce its new smartphones in September earlier than placing them up for preorder a number of days later, odds are good that the Apple Watch Sequence 10 will likely be launched on the similar time.

What will likely be completely different in regards to the Apple Watch Sequence 10?

A bigger display screen

The Apple Watch has gotten extra compact over the past decade, however not almost as small as a standard watch, like a Timex Weekender, for instance. Apple’s been in a position to enlarge the smartwatch’s show with out radically altering the scale of the gadget’s two sizes, 41mm and 45mm. Nevertheless, the sensors on the again of the watch that are supposed to be positioned in your wrist proceed to take up a big quantity of area, growing the watch’s general thickness.

It appears like we will be ready longer for that redesign. Whereas a report from Bloomberg initially prompt that the Apple Watch Sequence X or 10 would introduce a thinner watch case, and people particulars have been corroborated by supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, three months out from Apple’s anticipated occasion, it appears like larger screens are all we will get. Kuo prompt that Apple may bump up Watch sizes from 41mm and 45mm to 45mm and 49mm, respectively, and CAD files obtained by 91mobiles recommend {that a} larger Apple Watch is on the way in which.

Assuming these CAD recordsdata are legit, the Apple Watch Sequence 10 may have a 2-inch display screen, making it larger than each the Apple Watch Sequence 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2. A much bigger display screen may very well be dangerous for anybody with a small wrist, however good for watchOS apps and problems cramped on current Apple Watch display screen sizes.

New magnetic watch bands

In its authentic report, Bloomberg claimed that the connector used to connect current watch bands from the primary Apple Watch to the Apple Watch Sequence 9 makes use of up a variety of area within the smartwatch that may be higher spent on a bigger battery or an general diminished measurement. Apple has “explored a brand new magnetic band attachment system” that would alleviate the issue, however Bloomberg’s report cautions that it may not be prepared in time for the Apple Watch Sequence 10. With these leaked CAD recordsdata suggesting the Apple Watch Sequence 10 goes to look almost an identical to earlier generations, the inclusion of recent band connectors appears increasingly unlikely.

Contemplating simply what number of watch bands Apple and third-party accent makers have produced, switching to a brand new system, notably one which sounds dearer to fabricate and design round, is not a change to be taken calmly. Avid Apple Watch homeowners may very well be left with dozens of bands that do not work in any respect in the event that they determine to improve, for instance. That is by no means stopped Apple earlier than, but it surely may actually give a buyer contemplating an improve pause.

A shiny microLED show

Apple has been reportedly making an attempt to develop its own microLED displays for years now to be much less depending on Samsung, who makes most of the shows for Apple’s varied merchandise. The Apple Watch was imagined to be the primary place the corporate was going to check its homegrown shows, both on the Apple Watch or the Apple Watch Extremely.

Now, Apple has reportedly scrapped plans to make use of the brighter, extra vibrant microLED Apple Watch show solely as a result of the shows “cannot add important worth to [the Apple Watch], and the manufacturing prices are too excessive to make it economically viable,” according to Ming-Chi Kuo. Analysts and leakers actually get issues unsuitable on a regular basis about Apple’s plans, however for now it looks as if a brand new show on the Apple Watch Sequence 10 is unlikely.

What we’d get as an alternative is a extra power-efficient show. Apple already makes use of low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) know-how on the Apple Watch to show and replace data on the display screen even when the Watch is not absolutely lit up, and now, according to The Elec, Apple plans on utilizing much more LTPO thin-filament transistors (TFT) within the subsequent Apple Watch to supply a show that sips battery life somewhat than guzzles it. These transistors permit for exact management over how a lot mild leaves a pixel in a show panel. Utilizing extra LTPO simply means the display screen will likely be much more environment friendly at low refresh charges, which is what the always-on show function of the Apple Watch depends upon.

One other attainable contributor to higher battery life may very well be the inclusion of a wholly new sort of battery. TDK, certainly one of Apple’s suppliers, recently announced that it efficiently developed a fabric for solid-state batteries that’s dramatically extra energy-dense than current solid-state and conventional lithium-ion choices. TDK’s new solid-state materials has “an power density of 1,000 Wh/L, roughly 100 instances larger than the power density of [its] standard solid-state battery.” If it exhibits up in an Apple Watch, that would make an enormous distinction.

New well being detection and security options

Utilizing the Apple Watch to supply a non-invasive option to monitor blood glucose remains Apples white whale. Within the meantime, the corporate is reportedly planning to make use of the Apple Watch’s means to measure respiration to detect sleep disturbances and allow you to and your physician know in case you may have sleep apnea. Extra probably helpful information to be thought-about within the Vitals app Apple is including in watchOS 11.

Apple can be planning on introducing the power for the Apple Watch to detect elevated blood stress and log it right into a “blood stress journal” that may be crammed out with particulars about what was occurring when the elevated blood stress was detected. That is reportedly step one in the direction of a way more in depth measurement system that would in the end inform your physician or heart specialist of your “precise systolic and diastolic measurements,” according to Bloomberg.

Apple / Pocket-lint

Security is a key element of what Apple sells with the Apple Watch and coronary heart well being is basically just one half. Fall detection, added with the Apple Watch Series 4, and car crash detection, launched with the Apple Watch Series 8, expanded the scope of what the smartwatch can detect. Now, based mostly on a patent spotted by Wareable that Apple filed in March 2024, it appears like a future Apple Watch may be used to detect drowning.

The Apple Watch can already decide when somebody is swimming for exercise monitoring, however Apple’s patent suggests the identical sensors inbuilt to the smartwatch may additionally detect “irregular habits” within the water and notify folks close by that one thing is unsuitable. It isn’t clear if the function will likely be a part of the Apple Watch Sequence 10, but it surely would slot in properly with what the smartwatch can already do.

Will blood oxygen monitoring be on the Apple Watch Sequence 10?

The function hasn’t been added again in

Apple opted to promote modified variations of the Apple Watch Sequence 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2 that had blood oxygen measurements disabled to get across the Worldwide Commerce Fee ban that was put into place after a US ITC choose dominated that Apple was violating well being tech firm Masimo’s blood oximetry know-how patents, an entire authorized mess you may examine intimately in our article on the ban.

Since then, Bloomberg has reported that Apple engineers have been engaged on modifications to the algorithms used for blood oxygen calculations that would permit the corporate to maneuver ahead with out having to alter the {hardware} of the Apple Watch. Whether or not these modifications really make it to this yr’s Watches stays to be seen.

When will the Apple Watch Sequence 10 be out there for buy?

Anticipate a fall launch

We can’t know for positive till Apple’s fall occasion, however as a tough estimate, if Apple declares new telephones and smartwatches on a Tuesday in Sept., they’re sometimes out there to pre-order on Friday.

As to what they will price, it appears probably Apple will preserve the entry-level $399 value the identical, because it’s already promoting the Apple Watch Extremely at $799. The iPhone X was used to lift the value of Apple’s high-end iPhones to $999 beginning in 2017, however that was earlier than the corporate started separating options and elements between regular iPhones and “Professional” and “Professional Max” tiers.

Is it nonetheless an excellent time to purchase an Apple Watch Sequence 9?

Not until you are getting a deal

If you happen to’re in any respect focused on a bigger display screen and probably unique new well being monitoring options on the Apple Watch Sequence 10, it is well worth the wait. Actually, if Apple does find yourself shifting to a brand new sort of watch band, ready will even prevent from having to spend money on watch elements that will not be helpful the subsequent time you purchase a brand new watch, too. Solely select the Sequence 9 in case you’re getting a significant low cost.

Apple Watch Sequence 9

The Apple Watch Sequence 9 can observe your sleep, exercises, and handle notifications, on high of a brand new Double Faucet gestures for controlling your apps.