I like this one. The presentation being so vague. No one was wearing them (they had on 6's except the actors). Probably not true, but it is a bit strange
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Rumor: 7 is the result of a contingency plan
- Thread starter Macalway
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I think the actual new design (flat edges) plus more health monitoring will come with Series 8 with the newly designed iPhone 14 next year.
I read this as well, but I have to say I'm not buying it. I think it's leakers and rumour sites trying to save face - because it's only really "strange" if you think deeply about it and in the context of a leak/rumour not coming true. I get the presentation seemed "vague" but Apple has done this several times since it started the digital events (with some of the OSs, iPads ,etc.). It's also not unknown for Apple to use the same SoC inside a Watch 2 gens in a row, and it's also not unknown for them to announce something and not give a specific date at the time.
But a larger point is simply that one of the main features of the device is the subtle wrap around of the display, and the watch faces to take advantage of it. This wouldn't have been possible to do with the flat edges... nor would it have been possible to just throw together at the last moment.
Who knows whether the flat design will ever see the light of day? Maybe it's S8 that leaked, maybe a prototype... actually I was always getting the S7 this year (I'm on a 2-year upgrade cycle) and was glad when it turned out to be the way it is, I actually think it looks much better and more comfortable than the flat version.
But a larger point is simply that one of the main features of the device is the subtle wrap around of the display, and the watch faces to take advantage of it. This wouldn't have been possible to do with the flat edges... nor would it have been possible to just throw together at the last moment.
Who knows whether the flat design will ever see the light of day? Maybe it's S8 that leaked, maybe a prototype... actually I was always getting the S7 this year (I'm on a 2-year upgrade cycle) and was glad when it turned out to be the way it is, I actually think it looks much better and more comfortable than the flat version.
iphone 14 should come the following year. not every year. once every 2-3 years is fine.
I think it is definitely odd that apple doesn't publish any specs online and just a "sum up" of the keynote but nothing else...
and the fact that we don't have a preorder date besides "this fall" is also a little odd.
I don't know if the flat edge design went south or if it was a "trap" for leakers... but in my opinion something besides problems of mass production went wrong and that there was a significant change last minute...and therefore there was no Watch ready to show off during the keynote or to sell in near future...
and the fact that we don't have a preorder date besides "this fall" is also a little odd.
I don't know if the flat edge design went south or if it was a "trap" for leakers... but in my opinion something besides problems of mass production went wrong and that there was a significant change last minute...and therefore there was no Watch ready to show off during the keynote or to sell in near future...
I had the same thought. This design is so blatantly a panic job. The only new component is the screen and that might have been one proposed to use in the 6 but then dropped for cost to one with larger bezels.
Same design, reports of manufacturing problems, no detailed specs, and no release date all point to this being thrown together 30 minutes before an emergency meeting.
Same design, reports of manufacturing problems, no detailed specs, and no release date all point to this being thrown together 30 minutes before an emergency meeting.
Thats the only reason I think something is up, and this was maybe more of a back up watch. The fact they had no dates yet, which for the watch they never announce with no dates. Production on the same watch from years past I doubt could have major production delays, so I wonder if this years was supposed to be the new body (To make up for zero new features) and this Series 7 they showed was the easier fix?
It's funny how a few rumours that turned out to be wrong make users on here churn out conspiracy theories on how apple stopped a whole production line at the last minute, redesigned components like the case and the screen and set up a new production line to conceal delays. And in the end the watch is sill seemingly delayed.
I wouldn't call something like this a conspiracy. Busness as usual more like it. But it's just a rumor.
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The fact that the Apple Watch is the ONLY product announced yesterday with an ambiguous "Later This Fall" only adds credence to the rumors of production issues/change to design at the last minute. I think this is a case where Apple is finding it harder than they thought it would be to incorporate more health related hardware to this device. This is the first Apple Watch release without ANY Health related hardware updates.
S5 used same processor as S4. We won't see new silicon in every watch every year going forward. Seems to likely be a biannual trend.
It's not a few rumors, every leaker in the business + third party accessory makers where saying it. No detailed specs whatsoever on the site is weird.
Also production for these products get started a couple of weeks in advance, if the rumors are true then end of last month when production started the problems started so they changed to their contingency plans (which Apple has for every new product they make) which means that production will start somewhere in the next few weeks (giving plenty of time to change the production lines) with deliveries starting probably in november.
No idea why you think they would just do this to conceal delays, to use the contingency most probably means that the problems where too big or too complicated to just have it delayed, you don't want another airpower, especially with a product like the watch which is 1 of their main product lines.
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Agreed.
I think what is being presented now as the S7 was going to be the SE, and what was going to be the S7 will be the S8.
The SE products are known for using oder designs and parts for cheaper manufacturing. No way a new SE watch would get the latest screen and a new case design.
Not uncommon for companies to give information to various parties to see where it ends up. i.e. show a design to a few people and see if it gets leaked... you know who you can trust or not then.
My view is the S8 is going to be a major step up, surely can not have another minor spec bump like this and hope to gain/maintain market share.
My view is the S8 is going to be a major step up, surely can not have another minor spec bump like this and hope to gain/maintain market share.
Agreed, but if the SE was planned to be released following the new case re-design it would then have been older parts. S6 processor, S6 style case (slight optimization) etc. If this was on the roadmap for mid next year, for example.
S5 was a carryover model from the S4. The S7 is a new form factor. It’s an aberration to see a brand new form factor with an old processor.
Design doesn’t change just like that. Series 7 is exactly what Apple intended. Apple Watch updates in general are always very conservative.
I think you should temper your expectations... I think Apple is setting a trend here with not providing a fully new processor every year.
The article just posted on the front page does confirm they did change the CPU to the S7 ship vs the S6 ship
Not buying it, I think the whole redesign was a setup for leakers by Apple…
It only "confirms" that the branding has been changed to Series 7. Performance remains the same as S6.
Apple would be shouting on the S7 product page if there were any CPU changes.
A change in dimensions/form factor requires a change in factory line machining. Things of that sort are not easy to rush or change at the last minute.
We can debate endlessly our theories as to why this model is as it is, or why we don't have a firm on-sale date. I tend to the theory that the decision was made quite some time ago, in the worst days of the pandemic. Of the annual new products, a dramatically updated Watch was a lower priority than other products if production delays/cutbacks would be necessary.
Product development is a years-long process. It can be more disruptive to "cut back" or "re-think" than it is to stay the established course. I can see how certain new features/components can be left out/delayed, but the overall shape of the product isn't going to change. Display module? That team continues to move forwards - it affects the entire geometry of the product. Silcon? Maybe S7 contains changes to CPU, maybe only changes to other components of the SOC, but if CPU doesn't require re-engineering because there are no new capabilities demanding it... may as well dedicate the silicon-development talent/resources elsewhere.
Overall business considerations?
iPhone exists in a much more competitive environment, so significant, annual changes to the feature set/specs are much more of a business imperative.
Mac was already on a years-long pipeline to M-series silicon, so while some delay is acceptable (any word on the 30-inch iMacs?), overall there was no slowing that freight train.
iPad... Pandemic turned out to be a big business opportunity, so full steam ahead there.
Watch? There's no serious competition that's pushing demand for feature-parity from Apple. New medical/health features often require government regulatory approvals - something that undoubtedly would slow down when all hands have been dedicated to COVID. If the SOC doesn't demand re-engineering, best to devote new-chip development talent and efforts elsewhere.
Earlier in this thread, someone suggested (not for the first time), that it's not necessary to update iPhone every year. I'd argue that, in the case of iPhone, that's a non-starter. There's too much competition in smartphones to just sit back and let that competition roll out "new and improved" every year.
However, in Watch, we've already seen several cycles of small, incremental change from one year to the next. Since much of the competition seems to think that "round" is more important to product differentiation than "functionality," Apple can maintain its product differentiation with far less effort than it can in smartphones.
We can debate endlessly our theories as to why this model is as it is, or why we don't have a firm on-sale date. I tend to the theory that the decision was made quite some time ago, in the worst days of the pandemic. Of the annual new products, a dramatically updated Watch was a lower priority than other products if production delays/cutbacks would be necessary.
Product development is a years-long process. It can be more disruptive to "cut back" or "re-think" than it is to stay the established course. I can see how certain new features/components can be left out/delayed, but the overall shape of the product isn't going to change. Display module? That team continues to move forwards - it affects the entire geometry of the product. Silcon? Maybe S7 contains changes to CPU, maybe only changes to other components of the SOC, but if CPU doesn't require re-engineering because there are no new capabilities demanding it... may as well dedicate the silicon-development talent/resources elsewhere.
Overall business considerations?
iPhone exists in a much more competitive environment, so significant, annual changes to the feature set/specs are much more of a business imperative.
Mac was already on a years-long pipeline to M-series silicon, so while some delay is acceptable (any word on the 30-inch iMacs?), overall there was no slowing that freight train.
iPad... Pandemic turned out to be a big business opportunity, so full steam ahead there.
Watch? There's no serious competition that's pushing demand for feature-parity from Apple. New medical/health features often require government regulatory approvals - something that undoubtedly would slow down when all hands have been dedicated to COVID. If the SOC doesn't demand re-engineering, best to devote new-chip development talent and efforts elsewhere.
Earlier in this thread, someone suggested (not for the first time), that it's not necessary to update iPhone every year. I'd argue that, in the case of iPhone, that's a non-starter. There's too much competition in smartphones to just sit back and let that competition roll out "new and improved" every year.
However, in Watch, we've already seen several cycles of small, incremental change from one year to the next. Since much of the competition seems to think that "round" is more important to product differentiation than "functionality," Apple can maintain its product differentiation with far less effort than it can in smartphones.
There's a lot of baseless reaching going on with the rumor mill here. Nothing about the Series 7 announcement comes across to me as being "rushed". They put more curvature in the body and display to add elegance. They even designed a new watch face that puts the numbers so close to the edge that the curvature wraps the numbers around the side.
If a flat-sided watch (with presumably a completely flat crystal) was their original plan, why the heck would they design a face like that? Or did they cook that all up at the 11th hour? No. That's not how Apple does things.
I'm sure that Apple has played with a flat-sided design and probably had several body styles in the development pipeline up until the point at which they made a final choice, which would have happened many months ago. But nothing about their final choice implies it was a fallback.
The rumor mill must have picked up on one of their alternate designs. Perhaps they leaked the flat design on purpose to fool the rumor mill or expose a leaker. That wouldn't surprise me one bit. Or perhaps the rumor mill just made the assumption that flat sided iPads and iPhones meant that a flat sided watch would come next.
As for the processor, big speed upgrades each year are not always a thing with the Apple Watch. We won't be running 3D games on it anytime soon, or taking photos, so it makes sense to emphasize power efficiency and packaging improvements some of the time. I have a Series 4 which never lags on me, and I'm sure the 7 will be even better.
And lastly I'll say that I prefer a rounded watch over a flat edged one. I think Apple made the better design choice here.
If a flat-sided watch (with presumably a completely flat crystal) was their original plan, why the heck would they design a face like that? Or did they cook that all up at the 11th hour? No. That's not how Apple does things.
I'm sure that Apple has played with a flat-sided design and probably had several body styles in the development pipeline up until the point at which they made a final choice, which would have happened many months ago. But nothing about their final choice implies it was a fallback.
The rumor mill must have picked up on one of their alternate designs. Perhaps they leaked the flat design on purpose to fool the rumor mill or expose a leaker. That wouldn't surprise me one bit. Or perhaps the rumor mill just made the assumption that flat sided iPads and iPhones meant that a flat sided watch would come next.
As for the processor, big speed upgrades each year are not always a thing with the Apple Watch. We won't be running 3D games on it anytime soon, or taking photos, so it makes sense to emphasize power efficiency and packaging improvements some of the time. I have a Series 4 which never lags on me, and I'm sure the 7 will be even better.
And lastly I'll say that I prefer a rounded watch over a flat edged one. I think Apple made the better design choice here.