Not surprised. The watches last a long time. My series 5 lasted for a very long time and I expect the same of my new Series 10. Don't see any reason to upgrade from my Series 10 in the immediate future.
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Apple Watch Sales Falling Continuously Amid Lack of New Models
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I love the Apple Watch in general but the lack of customizability and/or creativity with faces endlessly frustrates me.
Apple: "With iOS 18 you can creatively arrange your app icons on your iPhone. You can tint all of them a certain color. There's dark mode version of icons!"
Me: "Can I move the digital time to the center of my Apple Watch with the Infograph Modular face?"
Also Apple: "No"
Apple: "With iOS 18 you can creatively arrange your app icons on your iPhone. You can tint all of them a certain color. There's dark mode version of icons!"
Me: "Can I move the digital time to the center of my Apple Watch with the Infograph Modular face?"
Also Apple: "No"
Not making a first party iPhone app to build out your own faces from a selection of components will never make sense. People are clamoring for it. Apple is the only one to do watch faces and they are getting steadily worse not better
I’ve owned S0/3/4/7/U/U2 and battery life has never been an issue for me, not once in almost 10 years have I run out of battery during a day.
As for cost, comparing it to a Fitbit is comparing apples to broccoli
You're not a heavy GPS user. I have ran my watch from 100% to shutdown in a single run.
I’ve used my watch to track my 2-3 hr long mountain bike rides, using GPS, never an issue
What's that even mean, the battery isn't an issue for you? Like, if you did a 150 mile bike ride with GPS could you expect it to last the whole ride? What about a 48 hour spartan race? My Tuesday workouts typically take 4 hours before work. Can I expect to not have to charge the rest of the day?
I have my AWU2 with the FULL features that work before they handicapped it, I’ve had no need to update it since it’s working fine and serves my purposes. Stale products across the board seems to be a major problem with Apple right now. Tim Cook really needs to step down and let someone else come in who can actually innovate and lead, not just manipulate things to grow margins for shareholders.
I did a six hour trail run in about 15-25F temps. It died about 4:30 into the run. You think it would last on a 8-10 hour century ride? Hardly, and I do those a few times per summer.
I'm not trying to one-up you, my point is that the battery is good enough for you, but not for everyone.
IMO, there are also other things going on that simply make the Watch less enjoyable than it used to be:
- WatchOS 10 feels bloated compared to its predecessors, and requires more clicking and steps to use. Not as fun or useful.
- The best AW bands were the leather ones, which are now gone. Even the more basic straps lack the cool designs and colors they once had.
- Positioning the big and clunky adventure watch as “Ultra” makes the prior high-end watches (stainless, for example) seem less premium.
- And yes, few noteworthy (or at least positive) recent hardware changes.
- Most of the useful watch faces are now fairly dated. Most of the newer ones are novelties (fine for what they are, but useful/nice faces have a place, too).
- WatchOS 10 feels bloated compared to its predecessors, and requires more clicking and steps to use. Not as fun or useful.
- The best AW bands were the leather ones, which are now gone. Even the more basic straps lack the cool designs and colors they once had.
- Positioning the big and clunky adventure watch as “Ultra” makes the prior high-end watches (stainless, for example) seem less premium.
- And yes, few noteworthy (or at least positive) recent hardware changes.
- Most of the useful watch faces are now fairly dated. Most of the newer ones are novelties (fine for what they are, but useful/nice faces have a place, too).
The problem is Cook just wants too high of a margin on products. If they can’t make them, they don’t bother updates. HomePod mini? Going on 5 years. The watch doesn’t update the SoC on every model. The Apple TV 4K going on 3 years. Every other major product is a minefield of cost cutting, using BT 5.0, or USB 2.0 ports, or HDMI 2.0, the list are endless in how there is always just one part that will cripple you… somehow.
And now there are tariffs.
It’s literally like they have a roadmap on how to string you along every step of the way into the grave.
Also, I spit when I see the asking prices of storage, in 2025.
And now there are tariffs.
It’s literally like they have a roadmap on how to string you along every step of the way into the grave.
Also, I spit when I see the asking prices of storage, in 2025.
I responded originally to someone who universally called battery life "poor" - that is not true. period.
And yes, I do realize that it is not good enough for some, but it is for others.
As long as the battery life is this limited, I personally have no interest in an Apple watch. A HUAWEI FIT3 currently lasts me almost 9 days without GPS, using GPS three or four times a week I get 5/6 days of use. Not even blood oxygen measurement on the Apple, on the SE model. No thanks.
Tim Cook needs to have the courage to do Steve Jobs did with the iPod and iTunes.
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Well it is poor by smartwatch standards. My old-model Garmin gets 11 days plus - meaning that I don’t have to think about charging it the night before a run. I also don’t see how sleep tracking can become a nightly thing if you need to charge your Apple Watch while you’re sleeping. Unless you factor in a half-dead watch every morning.
I like the watch but I don't need to update it every year. I am still using series 6 with no issues
And if you hate analog watch faces then the overwhelming majority of watch face changes are not for you.
My AW Series 7 is still doing great and the oxygen sensor works which is something you can’t say with any new model unfortunately.
Wait, you paid for an Apple Watch with Blood Oxygen and Apple disabled it after purchase?