Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Magnetic attachment? Does this mean that the new watch could be charged by battery powered band also ?
 
Well folks, my Rolex I bought in 1966 can have any band still being made today for that design. The difference is that the Rolex still works and does its primary function of displaying time in two time zones along with the date. I doubt any Apple Watch would still be operational in over 50 years let alone 10.

The Apple Watch is, in reality, fad jewelry and disposable when the next fad comes along.

Well folks, my commodore 64 computer can take any floppy disk I throw at it still. you fancy kids with your new laptops don't even have CD drives any more. I feel sorry for all of you.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Neodym
They are not forcing you to buy more though. The selection of band designs allows you to choose the best band when you buy your watch, not necessarily to force you to buy more than one. If that were the case, Apple would be selling watches with a default plain black or white band instead of giving you the option to choose the band when checking out.
They do sell watches with default bands - those are what go to apple authorized retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, etc. Only purchases directly through Apple give you the option for different bands, but they are still limited to only what is available that season or at least what they currently have in stock. That excludes the 700+ bands they've already offered over the past ~10 years which, as sales have shown, people are interested in buying separately.
 
They are not forcing you to buy more though. The selection of band designs allows you to choose the best band when you buy your watch, not necessarily to force you to buy more than one. If that were the case, Apple would be selling watches with a default plain black or white band instead of giving you the option to choose the band when checking out.
I can tell we’re not going to get anywhere on this track, so let me just go back to the bigger point, which is that changing the band swapping mechanism for no other reason than to make previous bands incompatible would be bad form. Surely, we agree on that. And most likely we agree that Apple is probably not doing it for that reason.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nattK
10 years is enough, I'm down for a complete redesign and the cutout for the band inserts does take precious internal space
 
That’s discounting the fact that people are buying said bands today.
You were never promised it would work on future iterations, I mean there’s no print anywhere that will guarantee the thing you buy today it’s gonna work on tomorrows device.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nrose101
You were never promised it would work on future iterations, I mean there’s no print anywhere that will guarantee the thing you buy today it’s gonna work on tomorrows device.

You’re correct. From a business perspective, I think they’ll lose tremendous revenue from the band sales if they do this. The people that have one band are almost certainly not the people buying the most expensive ones. I’d be willing to bet on that guess.

You show that my hundreds of dollars of bands aren’t going to continue to get support, I’m done buying them.

That’s just my opinion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jz0309
there are currently 79 different bands offered by Apple (incl Hermes, Ultra etc) - this is a HUGE very profitable business for Apple.
IF they make bands incompatible, that business WILL shrink, plus it will make people (those who change bands very regularly and have like 10 or more bands) re-think to upgrade, regardless of new features.
While all those "technical" reasons have (some) merit, from a business perspective this looks like a dumb move imho
 
You were never promised it would work on future iterations, I mean there’s no print anywhere that will guarantee the thing you buy today it’s gonna work on tomorrows device.
true, but Apple set a precedence for almost 10 years and created an expectation, plus they created a very profitable business for them ...
 
  • Like
Reactions: PaladinGuy
You’re correct. From a business perspective, I think they’ll lose tremendous revenue from the band sales if they do this. The people that have one band are almost certainly not the people buying the most expensive ones. I’d be willing to bet on that guess.

You show that my hundreds of dollars of bands aren’t going to continue to get support, I’m done buying them.

That’s just my opinion.
^^THIS.
I'd stop buying bands
 
  • Like
Reactions: PaladinGuy
I don't really care if the connection is just as good. I wonder about magnetic though -- I can't think of that as just as good.
 
You think Apple will release a watch with bands that can come flying off? I'm sure there will be a mechanism for them to lock in. come on
Why would you need magnets then? I guess we'll have to wait and see just what they mean!
 
true, but Apple set a precedence for almost 10 years and created an expectation, plus they created a very profitable business for them ...
That’s a way of seeing it, the other is you had 10 years of the same design to allow also the band switch, which is more than any other Smartwatch creator can claim.

But people will always chose to see things from a negative perspective.
 
Last edited:
You’re correct. From a business perspective, I think they’ll lose tremendous revenue from the band sales if they do this. The people that have one band are almost certainly not the people buying the most expensive ones. I’d be willing to bet on that guess.

You show that my hundreds of dollars of bands aren’t going to continue to get support, I’m done buying them.

That’s just my opinion.
On the contrary, knowing the next band will likely last 5-9 years people might be more willing to shell for a premium band since the beginning knowing it’ll last longer.

Maybe Aw U2 and Series 9 new buyers will not buy the premium band now, but those watches will be suspended from sales soon anyway 😂 at least in the USA, perfect timing.
 
If the new bands and attachment system allow a new feature or bigger battery then it’s worth it
For those that have several bands fret not for you’ll be able to sell them or keep them if you keep your watch
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.