Gurman: Apple Watch 'Pro' to Offer First True Redesign Since Series 4, but No Flat Sides

[C7 POWER]

Every time I look at the flat side images that have been circulating for a while, it just seems that it would be very uncomfortable to wear. BUT at the same time, Mark Gurman a week or two ago was saying it would be with flat sides, so he is changing his story all the sudden.

 

[PaladinGuy]

Apple… stahp. Just give me a bracelet, ring, implant… or anything I can just wear with my Rolex etc.

I’d love to see Apple make something like the Oura ring, but I don’t think a ring is very practical for actual activity tracking. I think that’s part of why Oura has had such a hard time bringing the real time heart rate monitoring features to market. Hard to accurately do that from the finger. You’d also lose a ton of the integration value without notifications and such.

So though it’d be cool, I don’t think there’s much of a chance it’ll ever happen.

 

[PaladinGuy]

There are some rumors of software only features on the new "Pro", the biggest of which is some kind of hiking feature... I suspect it will be built in terrain maps similar to what Garmin offers on their Fenix 7 / Epix 2 watches (their highest end, they incorporate ALL the features of running, biking, swimming and other lower end watches and cost $1000 featuring titanium, sapphire, and lengthy battery life). I think the idea behind the watch from Apple is bigger screen (47mm is standard in the "sports watch" world), rugged (but not necessarily rugged looking, this is Apple after all), more sport/hiking specific features (hiking terrain maps, rumored yet to be announced offered coaching plans etc.), much improved battery life offering up to 24 hour GPS recording and 3-4 day battery regular battery life (if you aren't using GPS much.) Most folks will think the extras aren't worth it or useful to them, and the price will be a put off... but the folks who own iPhones but have been buying $1000 Garmins (MANY MANY FOLKS) will suddenly have an alternative in the Apple ecosystem.

This makes sense. I recently read that Garmin actually has the majority of the $1k and up smartwatch market. Granted, it’s debatable how honest it is to call a Garmin a smartwatch. As many others have said, it’s more of a sports watch with some smart features.

I could see Apple wanting to get a larger share of that piece of the market. I’ve read a lot of posts from people saying that they’d dump Garmin if Apple could give increased battery life.

 

[MrTemple]

the vast majority of famous men's watches, including almost all from Rolex, Omega and more have mostly "flat" sides. they have a hint of a taper at the very bottom edge and I've never felt one iota of difference wearing them from any other watch including my Apple Watches. If Apple were to do a "flat" side you can see from the claimed render they account for a smooth transition at the bottom of the edge, I'm certain you wouldn't feel it. The well rounded edges of the Apple Watch are actually fairly unusual.

Which of those watches have sleep tracking features? 🤔

A watch designed for you to sleep with has COMPLETELY different ergonomic requirements than fashion accessory watches. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Kram Sacul]

No one:

Apple: here’s a larger, heavier and more expensive Apple Watch

 

[JDHiro]

I’d love to see Apple make something like the Oura ring, but I don’t think a ring is very practical for actual activity tracking. I think that’s part of why Oura has had such a hard time bringing the real time heart rate monitoring features to market. Hard to accurately do that from the finger. You’d also lose a ton of the integration value without notifications and such.

So though it’d be cool, I don’t think there’s much of a chance it’ll ever happen.

To me, I like having the calorie/move/stand integration, why is why I'd buy this product -- today I only wear the cheapest Apple Watch I can while I'm in the gym, with everything set to silent.

To each their own, but I found the wrist notifications to be unhealthy. Getting tapped on the wrist constantly throughout the day is a burden I do not need. For a while I felt like I had become a slave to a stream of notifications from people and apps that wanted my attention. When I stopped wearing the Apple Watch, I suffered from "phantom taps" for months, and had to look down at my wrist all the time - even when nothing was there. I had friends report similar issues.

My life is a lot easier and mind clearer without the Apple Watch, and I get to enjoy my old hobby of watches just being cool again.

 

[spinedoc77]

I hope they offer it in SS, if they wanted to differentiate from the regular models they could make a brushed SS version, I'd be all over that. I would hesitate on the Ti as I owned one and found it rather prone to scratches and blemishes, although that arguably might have been the coating, but it didn't matter because it was still prone to easy damage. Hopefully they address the issue with the coating, but I'd still MUCH rather just have a brushed SS one.

As for bigger, hell yeah sign me up!

 

[spinedoc77]

As a recent convert from a series 5 AW to a Garmin Epix 2, if Apple pitches the AW Pro as having multiple days battery life, when using low power mode, I’ll be in line to NOT go back to an AW. I get 2+ weeks of battery life on my Garmin and that includes daily workout, every other day running with gps tracking and sleep tracking every night. I’m also uninterested in another rectangular Watch and much prefer the traditional round form factor.

You probably also get much better HR tracking. That's one of my gripes with an AW, $1k and it can't even track a HIIT workout properly.

 

[JM]

umm, I'm quite certain the S8 will start at $399 also... with new features.

But with starlight and midnight. No black or silver.

Also, we don’t know yet what features the $399 price point won’t get that the Pro Watch will. I predict the $399 Watch isn’t going to get all the sensors, watchOS features, etc. that the Pro will.

The $399 starting price is shaping up to be just like the “normally” priced iPhones where you can’t really get a professional looking one without spending the big bucks.

 

[PaladinGuy]

You probably also get much better HR tracking. That's one of my gripes with an AW, $1k and it can't even track a HIIT workout properly.

The vast majority of reviewers conclude that the Apple Watch is the most accurate OHR monitor. Now, in terms of frequency of readings, yes, Garmin wins for sure. I find the Apple Watch is the best for weights and HIIT - with the caveat that a chest strap will always be best for these activities.

 

[_Spinn_]

Sounds like a great watch. Too bad it is way out of my price range.

The only new health feature expected for the Apple Watch Series 8 is still a body-temperature sensor, with blood-pressure monitoring not expected to arrive until 2025, and blood-glucose monitoring not set to be ready until "nearer to the end of the decade."

Sounds like Apple is hitting a wall with new features to add to the watch. How are they going to drive sales year after year without new sensors? At this point a UV sensor is the only thing I think they could (but probably won't) add between the body-temperature sensor and 2025.

If the Apple Watch changes start to slow down I could probably justify the cost of a "Pro" Watch if I could keep it for 4 years.

 

[jmgregory1]

You probably also get much better HR tracking. That's one of my gripes with an AW, $1k and it can't even track a HIIT workout properly.

Whether it‘s better HR tracking or not, it’s able to give me round the clock tracking without interruption, which makes it more useful for heart rate variability tracking. The fact that I can use it to do a 30 minute threshold spin ride, followed by a 5k run outside (with GPS tracking on) every other day and still get two weeks of battery life from it is what really makes me happy I made the switch.

 

[spinedoc77]

The vast majority of reviewers conclude that the Apple Watch is the most accurate OHR monitor. Now, in terms of frequency of readings, yes, Garmin wins for sure. I find the Apple Watch is the best for weights and HIIT - with the caveat that a chest strap will always be best for these activities.

The reviews I've seen haven't rated the AW very well for fast changing HR, I can attest to that with anecdotal experience. I wouldn't say the AW is bad at HIIT workouts, I'd say it's closer to atrocious. A fast level change from say 70% to 90% takes a solid 10 seconds or more to register, which is an infinity when you are doing 30 second intervals. Note I'm talking about true HIIT where the fast interval is "all out" which has high credence in research, versus the fake HIIT that seems to be all the rage these days. The accuracy also suffers greatly with arm movement, for example if I'm hitting the punching bag the accuracy is much worse than if my arms are stationary. The AW is probably good enough for steady state workouts, but for anything that changes very quickly forget it.

 

[jmgregory1]

The reviews I've seen haven't rated the AW very well for fast changing HR, I can attest to that with anecdotal experience. I wouldn't say the AW is bad at HIIT workouts, I'd say it's closer to atrocious. A fast level change from say 70% to 90% takes a solid 10 seconds or more to register, which is an infinity when you are doing 30 second intervals. Note I'm talking about true HIIT where the fast interval is "all out" which has high credence in research, versus the fake HIIT that seems to be all the rage these days. The accuracy also suffers greatly with arm movement, for example if I'm hitting the punching bag the accuracy is much worse than if my arms are stationary. The AW is probably good enough for steady state workouts, but for anything that changes very quickly forget it.

Interesting - I’ve not done any strength workouts over the past month, as I’ve been focusing purely on cardio, so my arm movements have been minimal. The last run I did on Saturday, after my spin ride, the temperature was just under 90 with high humidity, so I was sweating profusely, and the Garmin never skipped a beat.

 

[spinedoc77]

Interesting - I’ve not done any strength workouts over the past month, as I’ve been focusing purely on cardio, so my arm movements have been minimal. The last run I did on Saturday, after my spin ride, the temperature was just under 90 with high humidity, so I was sweating profusely, and the Garmin never skipped a beat.

During strength workouts my AW7 (and even the AW3 I occasionally use) is fairly decent, even with lots of arm movements. Although I've taken to using a strap across my upper bicep instead of wearing the AW on my wrist so that may help accuracy. But my issue isn't with strength workouts or steady state training, it's with HIIT workouts which are markedly different than those.

 

[akidokraja]

Yes!!! Finally normally sized Watch is coming. Please Apple at least 49mm but I wouldn’t complain if you go bigger. Everything up to 55mm would be acceptable. Even slightly more than that would be ok so that us “giants” can wear it too.

 

[akidokraja]

The reviews I've seen haven't rated the AW very well for fast changing HR, I can attest to that with anecdotal experience. I wouldn't say the AW is bad at HIIT workouts, I'd say it's closer to atrocious. A fast level change from say 70% to 90% takes a solid 10 seconds or more to register, which is an infinity when you are doing 30 second intervals. Note I'm talking about true HIIT where the fast interval is "all out" which has high credence in research, versus the fake HIIT that seems to be all the rage these days. The accuracy also suffers greatly with arm movement, for example if I'm hitting the punching bag the accuracy is much worse than if my arms are stationary. The AW is probably good enough for steady state workouts, but for anything that changes very quickly forget it.

Correct, but still miles better than Garmin with HR. AW may take 20 seconds to get to change while Garmin takes 3 times longer. Neither is great with high-rate of change of HR.

 

[spinedoc77]

Correct, but still miles better than Garmin with HR. AW may take 20 seconds to get to change while Garmin takes 3 times longer. Neither is great with high-rate of change of HR.

Yeah I won't argue that as I haven't compared with a Garmin watch, although I have seen reviews which tout how well some of the models follow HIIT, I'll have to delve around a bit and see if I can find those and which models. It may very well be true that any wrist based (or upper arm based as I use them) monitor won't work well with HIIT.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

My 1986 Submariner, which cost me $721 at the PX, has survived 2 wars, countless dives, HALO jumps and still runs and looks brand new.

but can it track my work-outs?
Can I jump in the lake with it and it’ll measure how far and fast I swim?
Can I answer phone calls and texts with it?
Would I, a person with a visual impairment who can barely even see an analog watch, get any use out of it?
No. I don’t care what it’s been through. To me, A Rolex is a worthless hunk of junk. I have very little vision so it can’t tell me the time, and I can’t appreciate its “beauty” or whatever.
If you enjoy your Rolex, you do you.
But please stop comparing these products because they literally have almost nothing in common.
The *only* things they Have in common is that they have a band that goes on your wrist, and they can both tell you what time it is.
People are not purchasing the Apple Watch at any price to be a fancy timepiece, they’re buying it to track their fitness and health, collect their notifications, and answer calls when they’re working out or whatever. Three things your 1986 Watch will never and has never done.
No one is purchasing an Apple Watch with the assumption that 40 years later, it’s still going to do exactly what it did when it was bought.
It’s a wrist computer, and that’s how it should be treated. Computers evolve, break, become dated.
It’s not even in the same category as a Rolex.
Most microwaves have a Clock on it, and yet Some people still like grandfather clocks.
They understand that even though it can tell the time it’s not trying to do the same thing.
It’s like comparing a car to an airplane. Sure both move from one place to another very quickly, but you’re purchasing them for very different reasons.

 

[Ram65]

Apple Watch series 8 will be the greatest watch ever ok . The watch will be sold out for months due to supply constraints and demand. 😎🫣🫣

 

[canyonblue737]

Yeah I won't argue that as I haven't compared with a Garmin watch, although I have seen reviews which tout how well some of the models follow HIIT, I'll have to delve around a bit and see if I can find those and which models. It may very well be true that any wrist based (or upper arm based as I use them) monitor won't work well with HIIT.

although Garmin has made strides with the latest generation optical heart rate unit in their newest watches like the Fenix, Epix, 955, 255 etc. it still isn't as good as Apple's in the S7. All that said while Apple is the best to do it at the wrist and does a reasonable job with HIIT and lifting, it is still hardly perfect for those categories. An optical band from the likes of Polar or Scosche worn on the bicep / upper arm does a much better job or a regular HRM strap worn on the chest is the best of all (as long as it is warm and your skin has some moisture or gel.) Apple Watches work with all options of course.

 

[djowens1]

The upcoming high-end variant of the Apple Watch Series 8 will feature the device's first redesign in years and a new titanium casing, but will not feature the long-rumored squared-off look, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that this year's high-end Apple Watch model will be "a good bit bigger" than the current Apple Watch models, so much so that "it might only appeal to a subset of customers." The device is expected to feature a display that is seven percent larger.

Gurman reaffirmed rumors that the high-end Apple Watch will feature the first new design since the launch of the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. It will apparently not be circular, and contrary to reports of a squared-off design, "it also won't have those rumored flat sides." Instead, Gurman described the new design as being "an evolution of the current rectangular shape."

He added that it will have a casing made of "a more durable formulation of titanium to make it extra rugged." The device is also expected to feature longer battery life that could last multiple days on a single charge via a new Low Power Mode, according to Gurman.

The only new health feature expected for the Apple Watch Series 8 is still a body-temperature sensor, with blood-pressure monitoring not expected to arrive until 2025, and blood-glucose monitoring not set to be ready until "nearer to the end of the decade."

Gurman added that "the upcoming Apple Watch release is shaping up to be one of the company's more exciting product launches this year."

Article Link: Gurman: Apple Watch 'Pro' to Offer First True Redesign Since Series 4, but No Flat Sides

In terms of my initial response, I'm thinking the definition of "larger screen size" should be in the range of 30-50% larger, not a paltry 7%.... I'm guessing if it is just 7, that must mean it'll become 45mm instead of 44, or something like that? To me, that's not nearly enough....

When they say they have a 60+mm size, THEN my eyes will be perked up (lol)....

 

[djowens1]

Apple Watch series 8 will be the greatest watch ever ok . The watch will be sold out for months due to supply constraints and demand. 😎🫣🫣

Yep, yawn.... We've been hearing that phrase for years, but I can't blame them!! It's been working towards the public very, very well, and really should be a lesson for all of us when it comes to how they are marketing their products! Their strategy is the best in the world, and they have plenty of cash to show for it (i.e. $150+ billion in the bank!!!)....

 

[djowens1]

And, regarding the square design: I don't think Apple will ever make the Watch circular because that change alone would affect the millions of developers who have created square and rectangular complications for the Watch faces....

The current design is very, very good; however, as I said above, when they start saying things like, "our screen is about 40%/50% bigger than before," and they label that, say, as a "Pro" watch, then I'd start to strongly consider it! But in the meantime, it's best to get a new one about every 2-3 years, as that's typically how long the batteries last in them without any noticeable performance issues in battery life....

 

[spinedoc77]

but can it track my work-outs?
Can I jump in the lake with it and it’ll measure how far and fast I swim?
Can I answer phone calls and texts with it?
Would I, a person with a visual impairment who can barely even see an analog watch, get any use out of it?
No. I don’t care what it’s been through. To me, A Rolex is a worthless hunk of junk. I have very little vision so it can’t tell me the time, and I can’t appreciate its “beauty” or whatever.
If you enjoy your Rolex, you do you.
But please stop comparing these products because they literally have almost nothing in common.
The *only* things they Have in common is that they have a band that goes on your wrist, and they can both tell you what time it is.
People are not purchasing the Apple Watch at any price to be a fancy timepiece, they’re buying it to track their fitness and health, collect their notifications, and answer calls when they’re working out or whatever. Three things your 1986 Watch will never and has never done.
No one is purchasing an Apple Watch with the assumption that 40 years later, it’s still going to do exactly what it did when it was bought.
It’s a wrist computer, and that’s how it should be treated. Computers evolve, break, become dated.
It’s not even in the same category as a Rolex.
Most microwaves have a Clock on it, and yet Some people still like grandfather clocks.
They understand that even though it can tell the time it’s not trying to do the same thing.
It’s like comparing a car to an airplane. Sure both move from one place to another very quickly, but you’re purchasing them for very different reasons.

Well said! I own 2 Rolexes, but they just sit inside a watch case spinning around day in and day out. They are more investments at this point, with some sentimental value because I did wear them for 20+ years. Most likely I will pass them along to my kids to keep as investments.