In the store this week I was told Apple is planning on working with this current version for several years and won't be treating this device as others in the past with frequent new models. I asked if that was from his training updates and he said it was part of a recent training update to reassure potential buyers of the Edition models that Apple won't ask them to spend $10K+ and re-issue another in a year or two. I take it with a grain of salt, but does make sense that Apple would get that this would be a serious issue. The bad press alone...
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No New Apple Watch For 5 Years?
- Thread starter Davidchicago
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Apple employees in the store didn't even know the band was 3 parts, not 4 and kept insisting there were 2 complete bands coming... so I don't put much stock in their inside information 
Only time will tell what happens with watch updates
(see what I did there...)
Only time will tell what happens with watch updates
(see what I did there...)
I don't think it would be any more than two years as that's how long AppleCare+ lasts..
I think they'll be updating Apple Watch next year. There will probably be some trade-in program for Edition users.
Sounds interesting, but I doubt they'll keep this same version for half a decade. With that said I don't think we'll see new models every year. Two years is my guess.
Hopefully they set-up and upgrade plan for people with the expensive ones. That's the only reason I wouldn't buy one if I had the money. What's the point when it's going to be outdated soon? Watches should be timeless (ironic, I know). My dad still has a Rolex from 20 years ago that still works perfectly. No one will still be rocking a Gen. 1 Apple Watch in 30 years lol
Hopefully they set-up and upgrade plan for people with the expensive ones. That's the only reason I wouldn't buy one if I had the money. What's the point when it's going to be outdated soon? Watches should be timeless (ironic, I know). My dad still has a Rolex from 20 years ago that still works perfectly. No one will still be rocking a Gen. 1 Apple Watch in 30 years lol
Unless it was Tim Cook who told you, take it with a very tiny grain of salt.
I'm keeping it the two years the Applecare is active like I do every other Apple Product I buy. Then if a new model is available I'll sell/trade.
There's no way Apple coached employees with this information. It could easily have the reverse effect of turning people off thinking it is a one and done product that they aren't going to focus on going forward. No one wants to plop down hundreds or thousands of dollars on orphaned tech. See WebOS tablets a few years ago.
Sorry, just another retail employee shooting those mouth off. Apple has to hate these kinds of employees.
Sorry, just another retail employee shooting those mouth off. Apple has to hate these kinds of employees.
I believe there might be some truth to what the specialist told you. Perhaps the form of the watch won't change for many years, although it could be updated with new technology yearly or so.
Although I don't think that the basic form will change the internals and display will definitely be updated. I do feel that the bands will be compatible with all future iterations. Just my guess, nobody really knows.
Just had an idea. What if they were planning on gutting the watches, and adding new internals every few years? Then people could upgrade for a few hundred bucks. It'd be like a whole new watch, with the same expensive case.
Maybe they can even add new sensors to the back. Since it's not attached to the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibklpzKai-o
This is the best plan for the expensive models (not worth it for the Sport). And something that I can see happening.
Maybe they can even add new sensors to the back. Since it's not attached to the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibklpzKai-o
This is the best plan for the expensive models (not worth it for the Sport). And something that I can see happening.
Even if the basic style stays the same, they could always upgrade the internals more memory, faster processor. GPS would be a nice addition. And they do seem to like making their products thinner. I would hope the older bands would be compatible with any new models so we can build up a collection.
Well I know enough to know when I don't know enough so I take the experience of more experience Apple watchers here on the forum and thanks for your replies. I guess only time will tell. Not sure if this situation falls in this category, but I am surprised at the amount of speculating Apple permits or enables from their store people. As tightly run as they are, allowing and even creating the situation where in-store people are left to "wing it" seems odd. Or could there be a method to that madness?
I can't see them updating millions of devices being feasible. They'll probably do what that've always done, they'll come out with a version 2 and keep supporting version 1 until they stop supporting it. The edition is probably the only one that will have some kind of exchange program due to the value of the gold.
I was also told that one of the changes to the Apple stores in their recent re-design was the installation of a scale, which is for the weighing of any Edition that's returned to make sure all the gold is still present, so that would fit in with the idea that they could upgrade the internals and keep the case itself. I don't know though, seems far-out as we used to say in the 70's.
I'm thinking they'll do an internal upgrade every year and an external upgrade every other year... I also think they'll keep the bands backward compatible so you don't have to spend several hundred dollars on all new bands every other year.
5 years is an eternity in technology. Not a chance this is true.
Honestly the only way the Edition makes sense to me is if they can upgrade the internals and if they made the watch so that the battery could be upgraded (Which I thought I read here that they did for edition and SS), it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to upgrade internals. It's true that the tech can get thinner and thinner but it's also true that they need more battery so if they make the tech thinner I could see them just using the extra space to make the battery thicker and keep the same form factor (which is what the edition buyers would care about). They'd still probably make a ton of money off the upgrades. I really see this working for the editions not really sure if they would do it for SS, probably not worth it on a sport since the upgrade fee would probably be almost the cost of a new watch.
The SS is interesting though. If they update the watch every year people probably wouldn't be willing to shell out $700 for it every year and they put a lot of pressure on people to go for the sport instead or go for long upgrade cycles. If they sell an upgrade every year for 2-300 they may get people to bite every year or at least more often and make as much money as if the person went out and bought a sport every year or a SS every 2 years and Apple doesn't have to sink nearly as much cost into manufacturing so probably a higher profit margin here. This route honestly wouldn't be a bad move for them I think and allow them to come up with a range between SS and gold that people may actually buy like Titanium if they knew they could upgrade it. Just pure speculation of course but I think it would make business sense and the fact that they are upgrading the batteries hints that something like this could be done.
The SS is interesting though. If they update the watch every year people probably wouldn't be willing to shell out $700 for it every year and they put a lot of pressure on people to go for the sport instead or go for long upgrade cycles. If they sell an upgrade every year for 2-300 they may get people to bite every year or at least more often and make as much money as if the person went out and bought a sport every year or a SS every 2 years and Apple doesn't have to sink nearly as much cost into manufacturing so probably a higher profit margin here. This route honestly wouldn't be a bad move for them I think and allow them to come up with a range between SS and gold that people may actually buy like Titanium if they knew they could upgrade it. Just pure speculation of course but I think it would make business sense and the fact that they are upgrading the batteries hints that something like this could be done.
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Do you guys realize that us here at MacRumors know more than Apple employees about the Apple Watch....sometimes I ask them questions I already know the answer to and they still give me the same "we don't know yet" answer.
While I'm completely guessing, I do think the upgrade cycle will be less frequent than others, but 5 years seems a bit ridiculous.
Can you imagine using a 5 year old iPhone? I know people do, but I'd rather not. LOL, what would that be? The iPhone 3GS or the iPhone 4?
Can you imagine using a 5 year old iPhone? I know people do, but I'd rather not. LOL, what would that be? The iPhone 3GS or the iPhone 4?
I could imagine it being a yearly upgrade, however, next year will be minor upgrades with the following year being a new design and major improvements. Think of it as similar to the iPhone upgrade cycle with more emphasis on the number and less on the S.
I don't think the employee was following protocol at all. Had the conversation been overheard they'd have been reprimanded. It certainly isn't something Apple permits or enables in any way.
Something I wonder about is, if the internals are upgradeable, how quick and easy a job that will be. People who are enough in love with their watch to want to upgrade, aren't going to want to be without it for a few days (or longer if they're not close to an Apple store).
My big screen tv cost £1,350. I've had it for seven years. So it's cost me around £200 per year, i.e. less than £1 a day. When it finally dies, I won't be asking Sony to replace the internals so I can reuse the outside.
People who can afford £10,000 Apple Watches are, I strongly suspect, the kind of people who are really not that cost conscious. I don't think they'll be furious if, in two years time, a newer, better, different-looking one comes out. They'll just buy that one.
The Edition is aimed at people who don't look at money like the rest of us do. They might think to themselves "it'll last two years, so that's five grand a year". Or, more likely, they'll spend the money and barely notice the cost. They will have forgotten about it in two years time.
People who worry about the Apple Watch 2 being better and wondering if there'll be a special deal to just replace the internals of an Apple Watch 1 are almost certainly not the kind of people who'll be buying an Edition. If your budget is that tight, you really shouldn't be buying ten thousand dollar wristwatches.
Edition buyers are the kinds of people who go to clubs and ostentatiously order £500 bottles of champagne. They don't ask for refills. The money's gone and they don't care.
People who want an expensive watch and want it to last for 20 years wouldn't even consider an Apple Watch. It's a wholly different product. It's disposable jewellery, not an heirloom.
People who can afford £10,000 Apple Watches are, I strongly suspect, the kind of people who are really not that cost conscious. I don't think they'll be furious if, in two years time, a newer, better, different-looking one comes out. They'll just buy that one.
The Edition is aimed at people who don't look at money like the rest of us do. They might think to themselves "it'll last two years, so that's five grand a year". Or, more likely, they'll spend the money and barely notice the cost. They will have forgotten about it in two years time.
People who worry about the Apple Watch 2 being better and wondering if there'll be a special deal to just replace the internals of an Apple Watch 1 are almost certainly not the kind of people who'll be buying an Edition. If your budget is that tight, you really shouldn't be buying ten thousand dollar wristwatches.
Edition buyers are the kinds of people who go to clubs and ostentatiously order £500 bottles of champagne. They don't ask for refills. The money's gone and they don't care.
People who want an expensive watch and want it to last for 20 years wouldn't even consider an Apple Watch. It's a wholly different product. It's disposable jewellery, not an heirloom.
They've already announced that they'll be coming out with new casing materials soon. I dunno about 5 years, but I could see 2-3. If they could upgrade internals, I could see them selling more of the Edition, but I'm not even sure they're trying to sell that many of them in the first place.
OP's store conversation mentioned a "recent training update." That's good news, as it helps ensure that gaps in employee knowledge will be filled.
It's a complex product that no one--not even Apple Store employees--has seen in retail form yet. They'll learn. More importantly, they're being taught.
It would be VERY much unlike Apple to reveal long term marketing and product development plans. I'd put no stock in this.