Apple Watch Series 4 Compatibility

[Martinpa]

Hi!

So, I've been holding off buying an Apple Watch until the Series 4 gets announced this September. The only thing I'm worried about is compatibility with my iPhone. I am still rocking an iPhone 6, and even though I would welcome an upgrade, I just can't justify it financially at the moment; plus, my 6 is still running great, and is in mint condition. Seeing as the iPhone 6 is already the oldest model compatible with the Apple Watch Series 3 LTE, do you guys reckon it'll stay compatible with the Apple Watch Series 4 (by the way, I probably won't get the LTE version, as I don't see a use case for me personally, AND I'm on a pay-as-you-go plan, which I don't think even offers the possibility of adding an Apple Watch to it).

I know it's just conjecture and speculation at this point, just wanted to pick you guys' brains out.

On another note, I've been wanting to buy this Limited Edition band, but been on the fence since we don't know for sure the Watch won't change dimensions (I don't think it will, but you know...). On the other hand, I'm afraid the limited-ness of it means it might get discontinued before I get the Watch... September can't come fast enough!

 

[matrix07]

First, if you have iPhone 6 just change the battery. Apple has the battery program for old iPhone that will be expired at the end of the year.

Second, like you said it’s all speculation at this point but seeing iOS 12 compatibility goes down to iPhone 5s I guess there is a very good chance your 6 will be supported for new watch. Don’t quote me on it though.

 

[Martinpa]

First, if you have iPhone 6 just change the battery. Apple has the battery program for old iPhone that will be expired at the end of the year.

Second, like you said it’s all speculation at this point but seeing iOS 12 compatibility goes down to iPhone 5s I guess there is a very good chance your 6 will be supported for new watch. Don’t quote me on it though.

Already got my battery replaced, and boy did it help!

Is compatibility tied solely on iOS compatibility, or is it only part of the equation?

 

[Krayzkat]

Nobody really knows so it’s all speculation until the AW4 is actually announced.

Even the rate of old products losing compatibility with latest iOS/OS X is not always linear (this year 2009, 2010, & 2011 iMacs will all lose compatibility with the latest OS X Mojave


Ps. I think it’s technically called macOS now instead of OS X

 

[iamasmith]

Who knows for sure but I'm assuming the the reason iPhone 6 is the oldest supported phone is around the introduction of NFC support (enhanced pairing but maybe some other stuff ofc) with that model and I wouldn't anticipate that they will deprecate it unless the next version of the watch drops support for Bluetooth 4.0 and needs Bluetooth 5.0, which will annoy iPhone 7 users as well as they have 4.2.