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'Extreme Sports' Apple Watch With Larger Display, Metal Casing, and Longer Battery Life Coming in 2022

My only concern is that Apple will not make the new sport version with Stainless Steel.

Apple need to consider that average users will also want to benefit from the larger screen size. Not just those interested in extreme sports.

Make a premium watch with the larger screen size too.
 
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twolf2919 said:
I've had Apple Watches since the beginning and while I swim and hike, I don't do either at any "extreme" level. But the Apple Watch is a pretty fragile piece of technology due to a glass surface that has no protection at all from impact. My second Apple Watch's glass completely cracked simply because it fell out of my locker room locker onto a tiled floor. While my Apple Watch 4 avoided damage, my AW 6 has some pretty deep scratches on its surface - and I have no clue how they got there. I - or it - never fell and I didn't participate in any high-contact activities at all.

While scratches are alright with me, I wish Apple would find a better material for its watch glass. At one point, early on, Apple was going house sapphire glass, but the company it contracted with couldn't produce the material in large enough quantities (and, to my investment dismay, subsequently went bankrupt). I understand that a 'lip' isn't desirable on a touch-sensitive watch, but surely Apple could find a better substitute for Gorilla glass - I'd pay extra for something like sapphire. The frame of the watch almost never got scratched for me.
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Apple Watches do have sapphire glass! All steel and titanium versions have it.
 
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DocMultimedia said:
I did a nine hour heavy duty hike last week. Had about 2% left at the end on my watch. I’ll buy whatever version gives me the best battery life.
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Turn the always on display off. I did a 3 hour train journey, 9 hour 50k hike and then another 3 hour hike and it was at 40%.
 
TechieGeek said:
The big question is whether the band will remain the same or whether the attachments will change. We all want to know whether we can continue building our band collections or whether we should pause purchasing new bands for the next few months.
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Pause purchasing bands?? Sounds you have an addiction 😀
 
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Yeah.....Unless there is some miracle technological leap in battery technology (and many other outdoor-specific features added), no serious hiker/backpacker or marathon runner is going to be ditching their Garmin Fenix or Forerunner to jump over to the Apple camp. I highly suspect the $$$ of this new watch will be in the same price range as a lot of the Fenix line, also. This will likely be a slight upgrade for those casual 3-6mi hikes where your battery won't be completely hosed by the end of it (ie ending with 20% battery left instead of 10%).
 
jamcgahey said:
I legit don't even need a new Apple Watch but I am so sick of these protective casings that I absolutely will be upgrading to this if it actually does come out.
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You said you’re sick of the protective cases, but you will upgrade to this if they actually come out? You do realize thats all this new “rugged watch” is, right? A slightly larger regular Apple Watch in one of the cases you just said you‘re sick of?

FYI - There are many different flavors of “rugged” watch cases out here for existing Apple watches already out there that make them look just like the published picture of this “new” watch… truth is, there seemingly is nothing new here… at best its just a marketing gimmick… but to me, its more of the same thats starting to creep out of Apple - over priced hype to lure in those who blindly pay Apple for their logo on anything they put it on, regardless of its comparable value with like kind products…
 
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Updated sleep tracking and exercise stats - rival Fitbit

Beefier Watch - rival Garmin

About time Apple got serious about the fitness functionality
 
fwmireault said:
For this user demographic, the battery life is likely the thing that will matter the most. I hope the jump will be significant, but I doubt a slightly larger case will result in major improvements regarding battery life. Fingers crossed
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As someone from this demographic, I totally agree. I would absolutely love an Apple Watch with battery Life comparably to a Garmin Fenix (or at least Epix). I always wonder, how Garmin is able to get that battery life out of their watches.
 
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Rasputin78 said:
Yeah.....Unless there is some miracle technological leap in battery technology (and many other outdoor-specific features added), no serious hiker/backpacker or marathon runner is going to be ditching their Garmin Fenix or Forerunner to jump over to the Apple camp. I highly suspect the $$$ of this new watch will be in the same price range as a lot of the Fenix line, also. This will likely be a slight upgrade for those casual 3-6mi hikes where your battery won't be completely hosed by the end of it (ie ending with 20% battery left instead of 10%).
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3-10 mile hikes are completely fine even today - walk 20k takes around 3hrs in non extreme enviroment (In extreme -mountains etc, battery would be the least of my concern, i would be worried about the glass When you bump your watch or fall).
 
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Bring a standalone Apple Watch. No dependency on any other device. Add a web browser and camera to read QR Codes. Then, I am sold.
 
fwmireault said:
For this user demographic, the battery life is likely the thing that will matter the most. I hope the jump will be significant, but I doubt a slightly larger case will result in major improvements regarding battery life. Fingers crossed
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I was thinking the same. I have a Suunto watch which I use for hill runs and ultra distance races. I think I've managed to get nearly 24 hours tracking out of it before and its easy to charge on the move with a battery pack if I need to.

I do use my normal Apple Watch for shorter activities, but its not the "ruggedness" of the Apple Watch which makes me do this, its the battery life.
 
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twolf2919 said:
I've had Apple Watches since the beginning and while I swim and hike, I don't do either at any "extreme" level. But the Apple Watch is a pretty fragile piece of technology due to a glass surface that has no protection at all from impact. My second Apple Watch's glass completely cracked simply because it fell out of my locker room locker onto a tiled floor. While my Apple Watch 4 avoided damage, my AW 6 has some pretty deep scratches on its surface - and I have no clue how they got there. I - or it - never fell and I didn't participate in any high-contact activities at all.

While scratches are alright with me, I wish Apple would find a better material for its watch glass. At one point, early on, Apple was going house sapphire glass, but the company it contracted with couldn't produce the material in large enough quantities (and, to my investment dismay, subsequently went bankrupt). I understand that a 'lip' isn't desirable on a touch-sensitive watch, but surely Apple could find a better substitute for Gorilla glass - I'd pay extra for something like sapphire. The frame of the watch almost never got scratched for me.
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You'd pay extra for something like sapphire? You realize that is the stainless version right? Aluminum is glass. Stainless/steel is Sapphire. Problem solved.

I have always bought the stainless steel watch specifically for the sapphire face. I have hit it, dropped it, impacted it, rubbed against bricks, it's scratched and banged against many surfaces (series 4 here, series 2 previously). I have never had any deep gouges or cracks. Under super bright light and if I hold the watch a certain way, there are some minor scratches. Nothing I can feel or see on a daily basis.

I would not have the same results if it were the aluminum/glass version. No ma'am!
 
Mizouse said:
for it to work for “extreme” sports they need to update their fitness tracking or something.

I once used the hiking workout and hiked 10 miles and the dang thing only registered 28 minutes of activity, also the constant nagging of “are you still hiking?” Sometimes the watch would just end my workout or pause the tracking.
Not everyone hikes smooth paved trails with little to no elevation change.

Also the outdoor walk workout is annoying too. I have to walk according to whatever what Apple considers a brisk walk to even register anything.
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I have the same problems with my series5. I still prefer using my 5 year old polar watch as it's simpler and more reliable. Also the display of the workout (GPS track, heartrate) are simpler and more granular that what I can see in the awful health app. The entire Apple Watch health setup is made for people who don't do sport and need reminders instead of focusing on people who use it actually for sport.
 
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