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Gurman: Apple Planning Major 'Apple Watch X' Redesign to Introduce New Band System and More
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Come on man, my Fitbit croaked out (and Google neutered Fitbit's feature set) so this was finally my year to pick up an AW.
I actually think the Ultra will retain the same form factor. This Apple Watch X is most likely just going to bring the regular watch more inline with the Ultra anyway. I don’t buy for a second that they are going to change band compatibility.
The mag strap doesn't seem right. Easy to steal & terrible for impact sports... I almost lost my 5 series with a Milanese loop twice: once jumping into a lake from a 3m high spot and another time falling off while wakeboarding. Both times the Milanese loop opened up and didn't come off by pure luck. I now have an Ultra with the alpine loop, feels a lot better
Yes I do. I think in terms of the connector they will keep backwards compatibility but I can see them producing higher spec bands (perhaps with smart features) that are only compatible with newer watches.
It would be insane to shake this all up.
Then again they could sell some sort of adaptor.
Can’t see the strap attachment mechanism changing. Really is no need. I can see it being enhanced with maybe contact interfaces between new bands and the “socket” for more functionally, without making all our existing bands incompatible.
But even then, why would you need more CPU power in a watch? lol. The phone, yes for sure, but no one will really notice a difference in the watch.
Personally I think a new band mechanism and adaptor is likely at some point and a major redesign of the hardware seems like the right time. I imagine that, by now, Apple has come up with a number of better ideas for attaching bands that require a less bulky connector. They can't really make the Watch much bigger, so gaining some much needed space for battery and/or sensor improvements by changing the band connector seems plausible to me.
I think the same can be said for a phone. Who really needs the processing power we have in today's iPhone? If each of the last five iPhones was but in the same casing, I think 99% of users wouldn't be able to tell the difference in performance. Things like camera improvements would obviously be noticeable, but just general device performance...I don't think many people (anyone?) could tell the difference.
I agree & disagree, for none cellular users the current 18 hrs is sufficient, especially as the 7 & 8 have fast charging.
For Cellular users it's not enough, it should be at least as long as the Ultra.
As to Polar & Garmin, they are purely sports/ activity watches, consume much less power than AW watch which is a smart watch, that can also track sports & Activities, so really it's like comparing apples & oranges
I would imagine, I just don't want them to "forget" about it, like they sometimes do, when shifting their focus. But what you're saying makes sense!
I have had the AW since day 1, currently on the AWU. I love the idea of a refreshed look. But I feel like I got that with the AWU. If they do go with new bands for the device, I will probably not upgrade right away. Weird, but I feel like it'd be too big of a waste of money from all the bands I have. Sounds so stupid.
There are already magnets in the Watch case to align the charger. Same in the iPhone. Both still have compasses. Evidently Apple is able to shield them enough to be useful.
Hopefully going from 7nm to 5nm process on the SOC will help with that.
I look forward to seeing a redesign but I have serious doubts that a magnetic band system could ever be secure enough. I’m open to be surprised but it would have to be just as secure as the current system to even be a remote consideration.
I am not sure what are you talking about, Garmin Epix is smartwatch.
Isn't that reason because they did "s" models some years? They haven't done that with the watch. This year's watch will be Series 9, and next year's watch will be Series 10 or X (which is just 10 in roman numerals), assuming they stick with launching the watch annually in the fall.
The odd-numbered series are "s" years--very little change but you can count on everything working properly. The even-numbered series have the bigger changes, and also the risk of bigger bugs and/or build defects if you buy at launch. This is an odd-numbered series year. Set your expectation based on that, and buy based on what's announced when they announce it.
If we all went by what the rumor mill said, none of us would ever buy anything.
Really hoping the thinner case redesign rumors are true. The Watch needs it badly; looks far too gadgety as is.
Hoping this will mark a return to focus on style/fashion aspect as they did when they first launched AW. That was a mistake then (especially the stupid expensive Edition versions) and they turned it around to focus more on fitness aspect, a good move. But now with the Ultra filling in the sport/tech enthusiast niche, the regular AW can focus more on fashion/style appeal.
Hoping this will mark a return to focus on style/fashion aspect as they did when they first launched AW. That was a mistake then (especially the stupid expensive Edition versions) and they turned it around to focus more on fitness aspect, a good move. But now with the Ultra filling in the sport/tech enthusiast niche, the regular AW can focus more on fashion/style appeal.