Apple Trends 2022: What’s Next for the Apple Watch?
With the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple destroyed the leaker scene
The Apple Watch Series 8 will replace the current Apple Watch Series 7 in Apple’s portfolio. After Apple belied the biggest leakers last fall and introduced an even more rounded smartwatch instead of a flattened Smartwatch, you really don’t know what to expect from the Series 8.
Traditionally, rumors about the Apple Watch are much rarer than, for example, about the upcoming iPhone: The watch interests fewer users, and fewer suppliers are brought in, who are much easier to control with regard to leaked information. But the Apple Watch has been on the market for almost six years, so some trends can be identified.
Tick-Tock
No, Apple will not bring a native social media app to the watch, the tick-tock cycle is usually used to describe a development in design or technology that alternately jumps like hands on the watch. As it stands, Apple is also using the tick-tock cycle with the Apple Watch, at least since the Series 3. For example, the manufacturer uses the odd series sequence numbers to change something in the basic equipment.
So it was with the Apple Watch 3 with the LTE option and with the Series 5 with the always-on display. The even serial numbers are 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 innovations of the Series 7 are lined up in the Tock series:
Health Sensors
Apple has also made a name for itself as a healthcare provider with its Apple Watch in recent years, the exciting question is which health sensors exactly await us in the Apple Watch Series 8.
Blood Sugar Sensor
Apple has been researching non-invasive blood sugar measurement for years, but with each new Apple Watch, users have had to wait even longer. We are currently not aware of any wearable available on the market that does not measure blood sugar invasively.
A startup is popping up that claims to be able to measure blood sugar without a prick and will even offer working prototypes for the next few months, but the claims cannot stand the test over time. Final examples: Quantum Operations, Medisana has been offering a GlucoWatch connect blood sugar monitor for a short time since 2019.
Gluco Watch G2 Biographer was already on the market in 2005, only to disappear again. the Speculations about the blood sugar sensors in Samsung or Apple smartwatches have repeatedly proven to be unfounded. The German provider Diamontech, Apple’s supplier Rockley, promises market-ready wearable technology by 2024 announced in the summer that it would sell bio-sensors for the measurement of various biomarkers. They should not be ready for delivery to customers until the second half of 2022.
From this list of more or less well-founded promises, the UK company Rockley Photonics stands out most likely: According to its own statements, the developer has been able to win the five largest wearables manufacturers as customers, which means that the company has not only Apple with its technology but Samsung, Xiaomi, Huaweiconvinced.
There are first steps in the cooperation with the Mount Sinai Clinic in New York who will use Rockley Photonics’ products to monitor patients. This indicates that the company has at least some prototypes that can be used in the study.
But even with an optimistic calculation, this technology no longer makes it into the Apple Watch Series 8: Apple sets several months lead time for the production of its devices. The upcoming iPhones 14 and probably a few weeks later the Apple Watch 8 will be decided in early 2022.
Last-minute changes weeks before the performance, as Jon Prosser last claimed, are simply not possible for products with millions of pieces manufactured. The next but one generation of Apple Watch Series 9 from 2023 would be more realistic.
Temperature Sensor
The well-informed journalists from Bloomberg claimed in the summer that Apple wanted to install a temperature sensor for the watch after that, i.e. for 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 temperature measurement with the current wearables has its disadvantages: On the one hand, the extremity temperature is measured due to the way you are worn, but this differs from the body temperature and also fluctuates more clearly during the day.
In addition, both devices only measure the deviations from a so-called basic temperature, which is recorded on a few days or more nights beforehand. This representation of the relative values means that a practical comparison with a commercially available thermometer is not possible.
The temperature sensor in the upcoming Apple Watch appears more realistic than all other rumored innovations. For one thing, Apple would have added an additional health sensor, which can increase the buying incentive for the next generation. On the other hand, the technology is not as utopian as the non-invasive blood sugar sensor.
Design
The biggest question with the upcoming Apple Watch remains the design. A lot of excitement was caused by renderings from last spring and summer showing an angular Apple Watch.
The rumors suggested that the Series 7 will follow the design language of the iPhone 12 and newer, but contrary to expectations, the watch has become even rounder than before. There are meanwhile new leaks that claim, the upcoming Apple Watch won’t be any different from the Series 7.
We consider these clues to be much more likely than a flattened design: Apple has stuck to the design of its products for several generations. In addition, this is a change for the sake of change, at the moment it is not clear which problems a flattened version of the watch should solve.
We are not sure whether the wearing comfort suffers from a square version. Although there are square watches on the market, they are significantly flatter than the current smartwatches. When you consider that the whole of Journelle has been complaining about the missing round Apple Watch for years, the enthusiasm and the subsequent disappointment are somewhat incomprehensible.
But the Apple Watch 8 will probably not stay without changes. Well-informed display expert Ross Young made a forecast that Apple is planning a third display size for its watch.
The watch can hardly get any smaller, but bigger. So it is very likely that a special edition Watch Series 8 with a display size of 49 mm will appear. 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 erratic that they could be announced on stage. The manufacturer has invested these additional energy resources elsewhere: always-on display, blood oxygen measurement at night, noise recognition, etc.iPhone 13 or newer are coming, and they are incredibly economical.
Together with a larger battery in the largest Apple watch, this could be enough for an Extreme or Special model that has been rumored for a long time and that should appeal to athletes with its long battery life and robustness.
Independent
These changes are gradual and are mentioned in a subordinate clause, but they are important for the further development of the watch. With the next WatchOS 9 and the next generation, we would like to see a somewhat easier update procedure, possibly decoupled from the iPhone.
Because even after seven generations of the watch, you first have to load the update onto the paired iPhone, place the watch on the charging disc and the smartphone only transfers the new operating system version to the watch after the battery is 50 percent charged.
This is very cumbersome, because it is linked to several conditions, and it is slow. We would like real over-the-air updates from watchOS 9 directly to the watch, okay, still with the charging disc, but without an additional download to the iPhone.
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