With the unveiling of the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple has destroyed the leaker scene. We’ll try a look ahead anyway.
The Apple Watch Series 8 will replace the current Apple Watch Series 7 in Apple’s portfolio. After Apple proved the biggest leakers wrong last fall and unveiled an even rounder smartwatch instead of a flattened one, there’s really no telling what to expect from the Series 8 now. Traditionally, rumors about the Apple Watch are much rarer than, for example, about the upcoming iPhone: the Watch interests fewer users, also fewer suppliers are brought to it, which is much easier to control in terms of leaked information. However, the Apple Watch has been on the market for almost six years, so we can identify a few trends.
Tick-Tock
No, Apple will not bring a native social media app to the Watch, with tick-tock cycle usually refers to a development in design or technology that alternates jumps like hands on the watch. It looks like Apple is also applying the tick-tock cycle to the Apple Watch, at least since the Series 3. For example, the manufacturer uses the odd Series sequence numbers to change something about the basic equipment. So it was with the Apple Watch 3 with its LTE capability and the Series 5 with its always-on display. The even serial numbers turn out to be much more exciting: with the Series 4 came the new larger display and the ECG measurement, with the Series 6 the blood oxygen sensor. The Series 7 innovations join the Tock series: the bigger screen and faster charging are more of a staple, which is why it’s not unlikely that Apple is planning something bigger with the Series 8, i.e. the Tick Watch.
Health sensors
Apple has also made a name for itself as a health provider in recent years with its Apple Watch, so it’s exciting to see exactly what health sensors we can expect to see in the Apple Watch Series 8.
Blood glucose sensor
Apple has been researching non-invasive blood glucose measurement for years, but with each new Apple Watch, users have had to wait even longer. Currently, we are not aware of any wearable on the market that measures blood glucose non-invasively. Every so often, a startup pops up claiming to be able to measure blood sugar without a prick, and even offer working prototypes in the next few months, but the claims can’t stand up to scrutiny over time. Latest examples: Quantum Operations , Medisana has offered a short time since 2019 a blood glucose watch GlucoWatch connect. Gluco Watch G2 Biographer was even in 2005 already on the market , to disappear again. Speculation about blood glucose sensors in Samsung or Apple smartwatches proved unfounded time and again. German supplier Diamontech promises a market-ready Wearble technology by 2024 , Apple’s supplier Rockley announced in the summer to sell bio-sensors for measuring various biomarkers. They are not expected to be ready for delivery to customers until the second half of 2022.
From this list of more or less justified promises, the UK company Rockley Photonics stands out the most: according to its own information, the developer has been able to win as its customers five largest wearables manufacturers, which means that the company has convinced with its technology not only Apple, but Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei. In addition, there are the first steps in the cooperation with Mount Sinai Clinic in New York , which will use Rockley Photonics’ products in monitoring patients. This indicates that the company has at least some prototypes that can be used in the study. But even with an optimistic calculation, that technology won’t make it into the Apple Watch Series 8: Apple is putting several months of lead time into producing its devices. The upcoming iPhones 14 and probably a few weeks later the Apple Watch 8 will be decided in early 2022. Short-term changes weeks before the launch, as Jon Prosser most recently claimed , are simply not possible for products with millions manufactured. More realistic would be the next-but-one generation Apple Watch Series 9 from 2023.
Temperature sensor
The well-informed journalists at Bloomberg claimed as recently as this summer that Apple was planning to include a temperature sensor for the watch after next, i.e. the Apple Watch 8. This seems much more plausible, because there are already some devices on the market that allow continuous temperature measurement, Fitbit Sense and Oura ring . But the temperature measurement in the current wearables has its drawbacks: For one thing, it measures the temperature of the extremities due to the way it is worn, but this differs from the body temperature and also fluctuates more significantly throughout the day. In addition, both devices measure only the deviations from a so-called base temperature, which is recorded beforehand on a few days or rather nights. This representation of relative values means that a practical comparison with a commercially available thermometer is not possible.
The temperature sensor in the upcoming Apple Watch seems more realistic than any of the other rumored innovations. For one, Apple would have added an additional health sensor again, which may increase buying appeal for the next generation. For another, the technology isn’t as utopian as the non-invasive blood sugar sensor.
Design
The biggest question with the upcoming Apple Watch remains the design. Much excitement has been generated by renders from last spring and summer that showed a square Apple Watch. Rumors suggested that the Series 7 would follow the design language of the iPhone 12 and newer, but contrary to expectations, the watch has become even rounder than before. Meanwhile, there are new leaks that claim the upcoming Apple Watch will be no different from the Series 7. We think these hints are much more likely than a flattened design: Apple is sticking with the design for its products for several generations. Moreover, this is change for change’s sake, at the moment it’s not clear what problems a flattened version of the watch is supposed to solve. We’re not sure if comfort suffers a bit with an angular version. While there may very well be square watches on the market, they are significantly flatter than the current smartwatches. Considering that all the journo’s have been complaining about the lack of a round Apple Watch for years, the enthusiasm and subsequent disappointment is somewhat incomprehensible.
But without changes, the Apple Watch 8 will probably not remain. Well-informed display expert Ross Young has predicted that Apple is planning a third display size for its Watch. The Watch can hardly get smaller, bigger is more likely. So it is quite likely that a special edition Watch Series 8 will appear with the display size of 49 mm. This additional size would have further implications: Apple will certainly place a larger battery in it. Believe it or not, Apple has improved the battery and especially the battery management in the past generations of the Apple Watch, but these improvements were not so jumpy as to be announced on stage. Thus, the manufacturer has invested these additional energy resources elsewhere: Always-On display, blood oxygen measurement at night, sound detection, etc. If you imagine that with the next generation of the Watch, Apple will work even further on the efficiency of the battery or. Of the processors works, after all, a Watch processor based on iPhone 13 or newer is to come, and they are already incredibly economical. Along with a larger battery in the largest Apple Watch, this could be enough for an Extreme or Special model, which has been rumored for some time and is expected to appeal to athletes with its long battery life and ruggedness .
Independent
These changes come insidiously, mentioned in a passing sentence, but they are important to the watch’s evolution. We would like to see a bit easier update procedure with the next WatchOS 9 and the next generation, possibly decoupled from the iPhone. Because even after seven generations of the watch, you first have to load the update on the paired iPhone, place the watch on the charging disc and only after 50 percent charged battery, the smartphone transfers the new operating system version to the watch. It’s very cumbersome, because linked to several conditions, and slow. We wish for proper over-the-air updates of watchOS 9 directly to the watch, alright, still with the charging disc, but without additional download to the iPhone.
5G
iPhone since 12 and the newer iPads already support the fifth mobile generation 5G, there were rumors in past years that Apple with Series 7 or even Series 6 immediately offers the 5G support, but so far nothing came of it. So it’s high time that the upcoming Series 8 gets the 5G addition.