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Will gen 3 keep the same band connector??

C

Canadia69

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 11, 2016
229
94
ive bought more Thant 8-9 bands...if the next gen that comes out doesn't support the same connector, it'll be sad

But I have no idea if they will change it...read that they might go with round watch...if they do, all these bands will probably go to waste :/

What do you think?

Ps: if this thread already exists, could you please merge me? Thanks
 
Would surprise me if they change it. They will eventually but it's probably like the old 30-pin connector and lightning. It took quite a few years. Also, it is possible to make the watch round and keep the band connector.
 
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Rumors have been that Apple is considering moving haptic feedback to the bands to make room in the watch for other things. There could be other features like solar, battery, etc being extended to the band as well. What would that mean for people who have multiple bands is as good a guess as anyone can imagine. Let's just hope if Apple goes that route, they keep the same connector so our older bands will work, just without the functionality. Though, if they do move haptic feedback to the band, that would suck.
 
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It will be several Watch generations until this question is relevant at all. Before the Watch might at some point in the far future become too thin for the current connector, Apple will first try to squeeze more tech into the existing size, e.g. LTE, more health sensors etc. And a round Apple Watch will never happen, or at least not as long as Jony Ive is still with Apple.
 
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Canadia69 said:
ive bought more Thant 8-9 bands...if the next gen that comes out doesn't support the same connector, it'll be sad

But I have no idea if they will change it...read that they might go with round watch...if they do, all these bands will probably go to waste :/

What do you think?

Ps: if this thread already exists, could you please merge me? Thanks
Click to expand...

I foresee the band connector lasting through Series 3, which is rumored to debut in September 2017 with LTE/Cellular.

I don't believe it makes sense for Apple to change the connector any time soon, being they executed the bands/port changing perfectly. But of course, there is no definitive answer.
 
sunapple said:
At some point the band connector becomes a problem for a thinner watch design. Then they'll change it. Gen 3 however will probably not be much thinner than 2 which was actually thicker than gen 1.
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I think the case will have to become a lot thinner -- maybe half of the current thickness -- before the strap slot gets too difficult to make. I wonder if the pushbutton release would be the trickiest part.

But, I also think that instead of making it thinner just for the sake of making it thinner, they'll add more features and capabilities while keeping the same case size. Among wristwatches, it's not that thick (it's thinner than my Seiko and my G-Shock).
 
I doubt apple wants to piss of millions of customers so I don't see it happening , honestly makes no sense
 
I foresee the connecting being the same for a while. They are constantly updating the bands. If they planned on changing the band connector in the near future, I don't think they would be releasing new bands every 4-6 months.
 
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Makendu said:
I doubt apple wants to piss of millions of customers so I don't see it happening , honestly makes no sense
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?

They removed the headphone jack from the iPhone. Thats a lot more serious than some band connectors. iPhone heavily outsells the apple watch.
 
Can't see it happening for a few iterations yet. i suspect it was a very conscious decision to go with that design for the connector and I don't think it can be compared to a traditional port on something like the iPhone due to the nature of it.
 
ascender said:
Can't see it happening for a few iterations yet. i suspect it was a very conscious decision to go with that design for the connector and I don't think it can be compared to a traditional port on something like the iPhone due to the nature of it.
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that wasn't my point. My point was apple has no problem doing things just bc itll piss off customers.
 
AndrewR23 said:
that wasn't my point. My point was apple has no problem doing things just bc itll piss off customers.
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But the headphone jack and band connector are totally two different concepts. Apple removed the headphone jack because they envisioned where Bluetooth was leading and that was their goal was to provide a remedy in place of the headphone jack with the AirPods.

If the band connector changes, that would likely be a result where there Is a hardware change with the actual casing of the Watch itself, which may or may not lead to the bands to have a different design to conform to the Watch casing.

Again, another forum member already iterated, I don't forsee the bands changing anytime soon with Apple refreshing them every six months or so.
 
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Relentless Power said:
But the headphone jack and band connector are totally two different concepts. Apple removed the headphone jack because they envisioned where Bluetooth was leading and that was their goal was to provide a remedy in place of the headphone jack with the AirPods. That was completely intentional move by Apple.

If the band connector changes, that would likely be a result where there Is a hardware change with the actual casing of the Watch itself, which may or may not lead to the bands to have a different design to conform to the Watch casing.

Again, another forum member already iterated, I don't forsee the bands changing anytime soon with Apple refreshing them every six months or so.
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Lol you missed my point too. Point is= Apple doesn't care if it pisses off people, they will do whatever they want. I replied directly to the guy saying he does not see Apple changing the design bc itll piss off customers.

I dont see Apple changing it too. But not bc itll piss off ppl. Bc the watch isn't ready for a design change, especially where all the bands now are obsolete moving forward.
 
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AndrewR23 said:
Lol you missed my point too. Point is= Apple doesn't care if it pisses off people, they will do whatever they want. I replied directly to the guy saying he does not see Apple changing the design bc itll piss off customers.

I dont see Apple changing it too. But not bc itll piss off ppl. Bc the watch isn't ready for a design change, especially where all the bands now are obsolete moving forward.
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First, I don't agree with you that Apple wants to "Piss" people off. However, it appears you don't agree with the changes they made. And there is nothing wrong with your opinion.

You appear you are posting with more emotion than you are with common sense regarding with Apple "Pissing" people off. Not everybody is pissed off with the moves Apple has made over the years, it's just an inconvenience for some of those who don't appreciate all the changes. Not everybody is going to be content with what Apple decides to do with their product line and Technology is ever changing.

I think you're creating a distortion between Apple "Caring" and the difference between technology changing. Some have indifferences of accepting that and they don't want to understand the changes, because it inconveniences them.

More so on topic, no, I don't believe the Apple Watch will change anytime in a physical design soon. But if it does change, my point is, it's because of how technology has changed, which the Apple Watch conforms to. so, I did understand your point, I was just clarifying the differences between your correlation of a headphone jack and the band port, which are two different entities.
 
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Relentless Power said:
First, I don't agree with you that it Apple wants to "Piss" people off. However, it appears you don't agree with the changes they made. And there is nothing wrong with your opinion.

You appear you are posting with more emotion than you are with common sense regarding with Apple "Pissing" people off. Not everybody is pissed off with the moves Apple has made over the years, it's just an inconvenience for some of those who don't appreciate all the changes. Not everybody is going to be content with what Apple decides to do with their product line and Technology is ever changing.

I think you're creating a distortion between Apple "Caring" and the difference between technology changing. Some have indifferences of accepting that and they don't want to understand the changes, because it upsets them.

More so on topic, no, I don't believe the Apple Watch will change anytime in a physical design soon. But if it does change, my point is, it's because of how technology has changed, which the Apple Watch conforms to. so, I did understand your point, I was just clarifying the differences between your correlation of a headphone jack and the band port, which are two different entities.
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Relentless, you are being relentless here.

I never said Apple wants to piss people off. A user above me said "Apple will not change the band connectors because that will piss people off"

I said no, thats not the reason Apple would change the design. Apple has no problem pissing people off, then I gave the iPhone 7 headphone jack as an example.

Thats all I'm saying, do you understand now?

edit- I wonder where you got I'm posting with emotion? That makes 0 sense. If you are saying that bc I said "Lol", thats very interesting.
 
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AndrewR23 said:
Relentless, you are being relentless here.

I never said Apple wants to piss people off. A user above me said "Apple will not change the band connectors because that will piss people off"

I said no, thats not the reason Apple would change the design. Apple has no problem pissing people off, then I gave the iPhone 7 headphone jack as an example.

Thats all I'm saying, do you understand now?
Click to expand...

@AndrewR23 quotes:
"that wasn't my point. My point was apple has no problem doing things just bc itll piss off customers."

I understand completely. Verbatim, you said "Apple doesn't care if it pisses people off. "That's an anecdotal opinion you shoehorned into this discussion and you're using the band port as a deflection. Using the headphone jack in reference to this thread has no correlation to a band port. I just think it's a poor example that you used I don't agree that "Apple does things because it will piss off customers." You have no way of proving that's Apple's intention. You don't have to agree with me, but that's how I see it.

I said you're posting with eMotion, because you seem bitter about the changes Apple has made.
 
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Relentless Power said:
@AndrewR23 quotes:
"that wasn't my point. My point was apple has no problem doing things just bc itll piss off customers."

I understand completely. Verbatim, you said "Apple doesn't care if it pisses people off. "That's an anecdotal opinion you shoehorned into this discussion and you're using the band port as a deflection. Using the headphone jack in reference to this thread has no correlation to a band port. I just think it's a poor example that you used I don't agree the "Apple does things because it will piss off customers." You have no way of proving that. You don't have to agree with me, but that's how I see it.
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Yup I see now. Got it.
 
What some people call "pissing customers off", other people call "dragging customers kicking and screaming into the future". Apple has no problem doing the latter.
 
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This was something I wondered about too when I first bought my watch. I don't think it'll happen for at least a couple more iterations. We don't even know if S3 will be coming out this year or next. Depending on the timing of releases, I'm hoping the current band connectors remain the same for at least S3 and S4.
 
While we're on the subject (yet again) --

Can someone give me a good, practical reason for a different band connection that would actually improve on the existing one?
 
After thinking about it for a little while, perhaps if Apple does add band functionality, they may keep the same connector but add "contacts" to it. That makes the most sense to me.
 
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