apple is preparing for its first major redesign across multiple generations of the flagship Apple Watch, but we won’t see it this year, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman in his Switched on newsletter this morning. Instead, Apple is working on a slimmer “Apple Watch X” with magnetic watchband attachment points, a blood pressure sensor, and a microLED display in late 2024 or even 2025, Gurman says.
The old mechanical attachments on every Apple Watch so far have been great for letting customers reuse their old bands for years, but Gurman says they eat up space that the company could use to shrink the wearable and beef up the battery and rings. internal components. Check out the Apple Watch Ultra, which Apple gave a bigger battery at the expense of compactness.
Rumors have swirled about a brighter, more colorful microLED display for the Apple Watch for months, but the display technology is new and incredibly expensive. Apple has had its work cut out for it when it comes to getting a scaled-down, affordable version of the technology into its smallest-screen device. Apple has also reportedly been planning a blood pressure sensor for the Apple Watch for years, and that too may come just in time for the wearable’s 10th anniversary.
As for this year, Gurman reiterates previous claims that the Apple Watch Series 9 will get a faster processor for the first time since the Series 6 debut, but will keep the same screen sizes it used last year, even for the 49mm Apple Watch Ultra. If that’s true, it could be an even minor update for the “Series” watches than last year.
