What are you going to do with your Band collections when a new watch design releases?

[techno-Zen]

I'm already considering dirt cheap prices on Mercari. I'll keep a couple for sentimental reasons but I am out of the business of caring.

I've gotten my money's worth out of each band.

 

[Disneymom2003]

I bought the original SS watch. i Have had the 4 since 2018. I just bought the SS9. I plan on keeping it for a while so if they change it I will have gotten many years of use out of my watch bands.

 

[techno-Zen]

I bought the original SS watch. i Have had the 4 since 2018. I just bought the SS9. I plan on keeping it for a while so if they change it I will have gotten many years of use out of my watch bands.

Coolbeans.

I'm tempted to buy a couple of bands that were just announced but then remind myself that I likely won't be owning this gen watch next year

 

[risenphoenixkai]

This assumes Apple even changes the connectors at all — and that’s a big assumption, because the rumour saying they will seems sketchy AF and like one of those false flag rumours designed to smoke out a leaker.

If they do change it, someone will probably make adapters to match up the old connector to the new one. Apple may even make one themselves. Wouldn’t be the most elegant solution, but it would mitigate a lot of saltiness from people like me who have literally thousands of dollars worth of bands.

 

[RPhoto]

I don’t believe a new form factor next year will make old bands obsolete. The fact they came out with new band styles/materials (not to mention Hermès) gives me hope it’ll remain as is. Not to mention the Ultra is only a year old. I think we’re good.

 

[BeatCrazy]

This assumes Apple even changes the connectors at all — and that’s a big assumption, because the rumour saying they will seems sketchy AF and like one of those false flag rumours designed to smoke out a leaker.

If they do change it, someone will probably make adapters to match up the old connector to the new one. Apple may even make one themselves. Wouldn’t be the most elegant solution, but it would mitigate a lot of saltiness from people like me who have literally thousands of dollars worth of bands.

The other thing to keep in mind... the AW band mechanism is basically bulletproof. Almost 10 years in, has anyone ever had a complaint? I'm sure there's a handful of defects here and there. But this is not a MacBook keyboard situation where everyone can't wait for Apple to fix something.

So the likelihood that Apple would change it seems slim.

 

[risenphoenixkai]

Almost 10 years in, has anyone ever had a complaint?

The rumour alleges that the current connector takes up a lot of room within the body of the watch, and a more compact connector would make it so Apple could put in a bigger battery.

Which is part of why this rumour seems so sketch to me. The position of the battery in the current design isn’t actually space constrained at all by the little dip in the case that accepts the band connector. The battery sits way above that part of the case.

Like you, I think Apple nailed the design of this connector right out the gate, and I can’t see them changing it without a really compelling reason to do so. It’s not like with USB-C, where there’s a combination of factors (including EU sabre-rattling) that, in the final tally, makes ditching Lightning the right call after 10 years.

Ditching the current Apple Watch band connector mechanism comes with several obvious downsides, especially for a company boasting about its environmental initiatives — one immediate side effect of changing the connector mechanism is a sudden flood of millions (maybe billions) of the old bands into landfills. I don’t see any obvious upsides to changing the mechanism now, or at least none compelling enough to offset the downsides.

 

[ssledoux]

Ditching the current Apple Watch band connector mechanism comes with several obvious downsides, especially for a company boasting about its environmental initiatives — one immediate side effect of changing the connector mechanism is a sudden flood of millions (maybe billions) of the old bands into landfills. I don’t see any obvious upsides to changing the mechanism now, or at least none compelling enough to offset the downsides.

This is an excellent point!

 

[BotchQue]

Duh! I'm sending all of mine to the Cupertino Recycling Center, to be formed into new watch bands for me to buy!!
And tomorrow morning I shall do my naked joyous "Look at ME, I'm Carbon-Neutral!!" dance in the back yard as soon as the sprinklers kick on! Woohoo! 🤣

 

[Sukach]

Not to mention the Ultra is only a year old.

This is the biggest thing to me. They'd be alienating a lot of premium customers by making the switch so close to the initial release of Ultra.

 

[mikedis]

This is the biggest thing to me. They'd be alienating a lot of premium customers by making the switch so close to the initial release of Ultra.

Hey, nice Tulsa flag.

Anywho, Apple & Hermes released 70+ new bands this season. They completely redesigned the Nike Sport Loops, spent R&D on carbon neutral Alpine & Sport Loops, redesigned current leather bands to use a new FineWoven material, and introduced, not one, not two, not three, but four new Hermes options which retail up to $449 a piece.

With that much money spent on research, prototyping, development and tooling, I see no reason they'd discontinue the entire accessory lineup and re-do it all in only a year.

I think the idea that Apple possibly prototyped a magnetic version of the existing connector is far more realistic, but there's no guarantee that even that would make it to retail. Take the recent example of the Space Black Ultra 2.

To answer the question of the thread, I'm not even thinking about it. So many new bands has be convinced we're safe.

If you want to dump your collection for dirt cheap, though, I'll be the first one to line up.

 

[RPhoto]

I’ll worry when we get a September update with no new bands, following a summer with no new bands.

 

[tomtad]

The big problem with this rumoured magnetic connector is that it becomes very easy to steal your watch. Just grab your wrist and it’ll detach.

You also have problems with how tight the band could be. I tighten my watch band when I go running for example, would this even be possible if it were magnetic?

I’m sure Apples looked at it but there’s no way around these trade offs.

 

[blueyz628]

I’m not too worried yet (I have bands from my OG watch). The rumors weren’t too accurate this year so it’s wait and see. If it comes that there is a change, I’ll get a U2 (I have a U1) and possibly another S9 (I got a pink this year) to use a while longer.

 

[Bandoholic]

I believe that if and that’s a big if Apple does change the mechanism, there will be a workaround for it.
Another possibility is that Apple will have a watch with the new mechanism and a classic version which uses the old mechanism. In any case, I future proofed myself for at least five years with the stainless steel series 9 and a Hermes SBSS, So I can enjoy my bands.