2027 Apple Watch Could Adopt Next-Generation OLED Display Tech

[groove-agent]

The only thing I want from AW is third party watch faces via a Watch Face Kit or something similar. It’s worse than having a personal computer but not being able to change the desktop background.

Other than Snoopy, most of the Apple Watch faces are pretty boring.

 

[Happy_John]

The only thing I want from AW is third party watch faces via a Watch Face Kit or something similar. It’s worse than having a personal computer but not being able to change the desktop background.

Other than Snoopy, most of the Apple Watch faces are pretty boring.

You can get third party Watch faces, via installing a third party watch face app on an iPhone, and loading the face into the watch via the iPhone app...

... but they are pretty janky compared to the "official" watch faces. The quality isn't there.

Personally, all I want out of upgrade to the Watches are better battery life and more "complication heavy" watch faces.

Almost all of the newer Apple Watch faces are about looking nice, rather than displaying large amounts of information. Which does look. nicer, but I want to be able to see a lot of information without having to drill down into the apps / live stack.

 

[BigMcGuire]

If it makes for a longer battery life, then great. Longer battery life is the only upgrade that'd persuade me to upgrade.

You can get third party Watch faces, via installing a third party watch face app on an iPhone, and loading the face into the watch via the iPhone app...

... but they are pretty janky compared to the "official" watch faces. The quality isn't there.

Personally, all I want out of upgrade to the Watches are better battery life and more "complication heavy" watch faces.

Almost all of the newer Apple Watch faces are about looking nice, rather than displaying large amounts of information. Which does look. nicer, but I want to be able to see a lot of information without having to drill down into the apps / live stack.

I would LOVE for Apple to have a "act more like a Garmin in longevity" feature - I don't need things to be updated every second and the massive battery in my AWU3 should be able to last half a month to a month if I wanted it to (like a Garmin). I would love this.

 

[jz0309]

Lol I don’t have to do any of that, thanks though. And yes, Apple is way behind in terms of fitness tracking. It’s not my responsibility to explain to you how far Apple is behind but when you compare their fitness tracking to Garmin, Whoop, and now google (which I have) they are way WAY behind. It’s amatuer hour because they don’t do any real tracking and show you anyth of value.

Multiple tests have all confirmed that Apple’s calorie tracking is way over estimated. I don’t have to get with Apple Support to voice my concern, it’s just a fact. And you clearly have never used other fitness trackers or you would know this. I’ve used multiple other fitness trackers as have others and Apple’s calories burned are many times twice what they are from other manufacturers. Apple doesn’t have to be perfect but many times they aren’t even close.

Also, don’t ever speak to me like you’re my teacher and I’m your student who needs to learn. Your tone is condensing and honestly insulting so don’t do it. I voiced my opinion on Apples fitness capabilities and you don’t have to agree but don’t speak to another member here like you are here to show them the way. You are absolutely not.

No changes to the design is not a surprise. I really hope they do something to upgrade the fitness aspects of the watch. It’s total amateur hour with the Apple Watch.

Other companies have lapped Apple in the fitness world and Apple’s laughable measuring of calories burned needs to be seriously overhauled. Its so wildly overestimates the calories burned it always makes me laugh when I look at it on my AW.

well, you certainly make claims and present them as facts, do not back them up with sources and state "... you clearly have never used other fitness trackers or you would know this. ".
So you expect that we take your opinion as facts with no data, and take your word for it. gotcha. I call that condescending, that's my opinion.

And s far as your "responsibility" to explain your "facts, I'll copy from the forum rules here:

Debate
Guidelines: Be willing to engage in fact-based, constructive debate. Look for ways to inform and learn from others.
Rules:

1. Sources. If you claim that something's a fact, back it up with a source. When evidence of your claim is requested, you can either provide evidence or retract your claim. If you can't produce evidence when someone asks you to cite your sources, we may remove your posts. If you started the thread, then we may remove or close the thread.

Source: https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201327723-MacRumors-Rules-for-Appropriate-Debate

 

[DMG35]

well, you certainly make claims and present them as facts, do not back them up with sources and state "... you clearly have never used other fitness trackers or you would know this. ".
So you expect that we take your opinion as facts with no data, and take your word for it. gotcha. I call that condescending, that's my opinion.

And s far as your "responsibility" to explain your "facts, I'll copy from the forum rules here:

Debate
Guidelines: Be willing to engage in fact-based, constructive debate. Look for ways to inform and learn from others.
Rules:

1. Sources. If you claim that something's a fact, back it up with a source. When evidence of your claim is requested, you can either provide evidence or retract your claim. If you can't produce evidence when someone asks you to cite your sources, we may remove your posts. If you started the thread, then we may remove or close the thread.

Source: https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201327723-MacRumors-Rules-for-Appropriate-Debate

Lord, some of you guys act like I'm speaking poorly of your children if I say anything at all negative about an Apple product.

Here: https://www.fitnesssimplified.org/opinions/is-your-apple-watch-lying-to-you


A study from Xie et al. [1] Looked at just this. Some areas of the watches were very accurate and others were off by a lot more than you think. For heart rate, step count, and distance (in terms of a run, swim, bike, etc.) the watches were very accurate or off by just a little bit.

However, the watches were VERY inaccurate in measuring how many calories were burned. Other studies show that the apple watch specifically tends to be anywhere from 30-90% inaccurate [2]. This means if it tells you that you burned 500 calories in a workout, you likely actually only burned 50-350 calories in that workout.

If you pay attention to fitness tracking at all you would know this. It's well known that the Apple Watch wildly overestimates calories burned. MKBHD just recently wore the Apple Watch, Whoop, and Fitbit Air and one common metric was found "The Apple Watch grossly over estimates calories burned in a workout."

That good enough for you?

 

[jz0309]

I would LOVE for Apple to have a "act more like a Garmin in longevity" feature - I don't need things to be updated every second and the massive battery in my AWU3 should be able to last half a month to a month if I wanted it to (like a Garmin). I would love this.

so, what is more important to you, battery life or the data that AW provides?
Yes, Garmin fanboys glamour about the 2 week or whatever battery life, but some users have posted here multiple times that if you turn on all notifications and such on a Garmin, make it more "equal" to the AW "updates" (like you say happen every second), then battery life is no or only marginally better to the AW. But this is anecdotal and I have personally no data to back this up, just from posts here.
There are lots of settings to disable features on the AW, me, why would I turn these off? they are what makes the AW the dominant smartwatch after all. And you can customize your notifications and turn them all off, but you know that.

There are 3 features that come to mind, detection of irregular heart beat, fall detection and then the integration that unlocks my Macs (I bought the base Neo without TouchID), and lastly ApplePay that I would not want to live without anymore, and those are typically not mentioned as "needed" features ...

I've has an AW since 2015, charging has never bothered me on a daily basis and quite frankly I do not understand why people happily charge their iPhones every day but yet take issue with the AW.

Have you ever used your AW in "low power mode" for an extended period of time to see what battery life will result out of it?

 

[BigMcGuire]

so, what is more important to you, battery life or the data that AW provides?
Yes, Garmin fanboys glamour about the 2 week or whatever battery life, but some users have posted here multiple times that if you turn on all notifications and such on a Garmin, make it more "equal" to the AW "updates" (like you say happen every second), then battery life is no or only marginally better to the AW. But this is anecdotal and I have personally no data to back this up, just from posts here.
There are lots of settings to disable features on the AW, me, why would I turn these off? they are what makes the AW the dominant smartwatch after all. And you can customize your notifications and turn them all off, but you know that.

There are 3 features that come to mind, detection of irregular heart beat, fall detection and then the integration that unlocks my Macs (I bought the base Neo without TouchID), and lastly ApplePay that I would not want to live without anymore, and those are typically not mentioned as "needed" features ...

I've has an AW since 2015, charging has never bothered me on a daily basis and quite frankly I do not understand why people happily charge their iPhones every day but yet take issue with the AW.

Have you ever used your AW in "low power mode" for an extended period of time to see what battery life will result out of it?

Yeah that's one reason why I don't think I could leave the Apple Watch - ever. I have a Japanese made Gshock 5000U that I absolutely adore and wear when I can't wear my Apple Watch (work reasons - happens rarely). I miss the data on the day that I can't wear it.

There's a reason why a Garmin watch has so much better battery life - it isn't doing exactly what the Apple Watch is doing. I too enjoy my very limited notifications, calls from favorite list despite focus setting, ability to unlock my Mac or any admin prompt, and the health data is amazing when I do run and walk 8-10+ miles for a shift. I don't trust Garmin like I do Apple either. I love the Quartz accuracy on my AWU3.

I heavily rely on haptic alarm, favorites list contacting me at all hours of the day/night, integration with my Apple devices, etc.

I have turned off most of the notifications - I average a drain of about 25-27% of battery on my Apple Watch Ultra 3 per day - meaning I can easily get 3 days of battery which is a non issue because I just pop it on a charger when I shower. And it is always charged to 80% (Optimized Battery Charging) when I get done even if I shower fast and forget to charge for a day/two. It is indeed a non issue.

Low Power Mode helps a little - maybe 5-8% reduction of battery usage per day in my experience.

Still, I'd like the ability to turn on "super ultra battery saving mode - last 30 days and maybe count steps" - but most people most likely wouldn't care or want it 😛.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Lord, some of you guys act like I'm speaking poorly of your children if I say anything at all negative about an Apple product.

Here: https://www.fitnesssimplified.org/opinions/is-your-apple-watch-lying-to-you


A study from Xie et al. [1] Looked at just this. Some areas of the watches were very accurate and others were off by a lot more than you think. For heart rate, step count, and distance (in terms of a run, swim, bike, etc.) the watches were very accurate or off by just a little bit.

However, the watches were VERY inaccurate in measuring how many calories were burned. Other studies show that the apple watch specifically tends to be anywhere from 30-90% inaccurate [2]. This means if it tells you that you burned 500 calories in a workout, you likely actually only burned 50-350 calories in that workout.

If you pay attention to fitness tracking at all you would know this. It's well known that the Apple Watch wildly overestimates calories burned. MKBHD just recently wore the Apple Watch, Whoop, and Fitbit Air and one common metric was found "The Apple Watch grossly over estimates calories burned in a workout."

That good enough for you?

While I get your point, I think you're overstating the inaccuracy a bit...

From the video you quoted:

It's not like the Apple Watch says you're burning 500 but you're only burning 50... That article you quote is grossly overestimating the inaccuracy.

https://olemiss.edu/news/2025/06/apple-watch-accuracy-study/index.html How about we try this one? This study says error rate of 20-28%. While 4% heart rate accuracy variability and 8% step count variability (aka very accurate for those).

https://myvitalmetrics.com/blog-how-accurate-is-the-apple-watch-calories-estimate/ - 27-30%.

https://medium.com/@practical_app/a...he-apple-watchs-calorie-tracking-ed672cb5c333

 

[jz0309]

Yeah that's one reason why I don't think I could leave the Apple Watch - ever. I have a Japanese made Gshock 5000U that I absolutely adore and wear when I can't wear my Apple Watch (work reasons - happens rarely). I miss the data on the day that I can't wear it.

There's a reason why a Garmin watch has so much better battery life - it isn't doing exactly what the Apple Watch is doing. I too enjoy my very limited notifications, calls from favorite list despite focus setting, ability to unlock my Mac or any admin prompt, and the health data is amazing when I do run and walk 8-10+ miles for a shift. I don't trust Garmin like I do Apple either. I love the Quartz accuracy on my AWU3.

I heavily rely on haptic alarm, favorites list contacting me at all hours of the day/night, integration with my Apple devices, etc.

I have turned off most of the notifications - I average a drain of about 25-27% of battery on my Apple Watch Ultra 3 per day - meaning I can easily get 3 days of battery which is an on issue because I just pop it on a charger when I shower. And it is always charged to 80% (Optimized Battery Charging) when I get done even if I shower fast and forget to charge for a day/two. It is indeed a non issue.

Low Power Mode helps a little - maybe 5-8% reduction of battery usage per day in my experience.

Still, I'd like the ability to turn on "super ultra battery saving mode - last 30 days and maybe count steps" - but most people most likely wouldn't care or want it 😛.

yea, I know you and I have differing opinions on battery "management", we've had that discussion in quite a few other threads 😎
For me, I'd rather see new health features/sensors that undoubtedly would come at the expense of battery life which is why more efficient displays can offset that power need.
And honestly, I don't see Apple going down that path of say doubling the Ultra's battery life, it'll loose some functionality in order to do that and imho Apple will only increase functionality.

So you keep doing what you're doing and I will do the same, at least you and I can have frank discussions about this and I enjoy that

 

[BigMcGuire]

yea, I know you and I have differing opinions on battery "management", we've had that discussion in quite a few other threads 😎
For me, I'd rather see new health features/sensors that undoubtedly would come at the expense of battery life which is why more efficient displays can offset that power need.
And honestly, I don't see Apple going down that path of say doubling the Ultra's battery life, it'll loose some functionality in order to do that and imho Apple will only increase functionality.

So you keep doing what you're doing and I will do the same, at least you and I can have frank discussions about this and I enjoy that

Oh yeah I don't see Apple ever doing that and I freely admit I'm a battery nut who is crazy. I'm very happy with my Ultra and I won't ever be leaving. Wife got it for me for my birthday - hoping to get a lot of usage out of it before I even think of upgrading.

I also appreciate the discussion - understood completely that we see things differently and in this case I believe you're right. 🙂 People prefer functions.

 

[CarAnalogy]

All i want is better battery life and a smaller form factor.

I'll take the Dock for $1000, John (Ternus.)

 

[svish]

Good to hear this. Possible that it might be available only on the Ultra model for a year before it becomes available in the normal Series model.

 

[ds2000]

No changes to the design is not a surprise. I really hope they do something to upgrade the fitness aspects of the watch. It’s total amateur hour with the Apple Watch.

Other companies have lapped Apple in the fitness world and Apple’s laughable measuring of calories burned needs to be seriously overhauled. Its so wildly overestimates the calories burned it always makes me laugh when I look at it on my AW.

Agree, I did a half marathon at the weekend, in my group of 8 (all crossfitters not runners), everyone had garmins. Looking around further, I spotted maybe 1 AW in 15 people, go back 5 years and I'd guess 60-70% would have the AW.