Apple Watch Series 6 Features
As we are currently in June that means that Apples highly anticipated release month of September is quickly approaching. It is still unknown if these hardware release dates will be delayed given what has unfolded in recent months.
Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) is taking place on the 22nd of June which could tell us a bit about the Apple Watch Series 6. WWDC is where we will see the software features of the up and coming watchOS7.
Until waiting until September, here is what we know so far.
1. Design to remain unchanged
At this point in time, it is heavily rumoured that the series 6 will not have a micro-LED display as many predicted. A serial leaker (Twitter — @L0vetodream) has stated that Apple will use the same screen supplier JDI as the series 5. This display will be the same OLED display that embeds LTPO technology for its always-on feature. This would also mean that the thickness of the device would essentially remain the same.
It has been reported countless times in 2020 that Apple will remove the Digital Crown and opt for a haptic button that can detect fingerprints. This does not sound like it would happen any time soon. Given the history, a major change wouldn’t happen until the series 7 as the series 4 design is tipped to be given 3 iterations very much like the first-generation Apple Watch design. From a technology aspect, we know that Apple waits until a type of technology is mature, tried and tested before embedding it so I personally think it will be a while before we see Touch ID sensors.
2. Longer Battery Life
Longer battery life in any electronic product is always highly desired. It is tipped that the Apple Watch Series 6 will come with longer battery life. Although the physical design is to remain unchanged the next generation of the S chip could lead to battery efficiencies. I have noticed that with the Apple Watch Series 5 the battery life did take a hit when you enable the always-on display. This is an area that I personally hope is improved in the series 6.
3. Redesigned S Chip
The longer battery life could be enabled by a redesigned S chip which will be the S6 chip. From the Series 4 to the Series 5 the S5 chip was largely unchanged due to a compass. The S6 is not only tipped to be more power-efficient but also significantly more powerful. It is rumoured to remain as a dual-core processor but definitely beefed up to handle additional tasks and health tracking features which leads us to our next prediction.
4. Additional Health Tracking Features
It has been leaked and heavily rumoured that the Series 6 will contain additional health-tracking features. This makes perfect sense as Apple really want the Apple Watch to be the ultimate health and fitness companion. One aspect that the Apple Watch has lacked is the ability to track sleep, while rivals such as Fitbit have had this feature for a number of years. It’s not yet known if this will be exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 6 due to the hardware or via a software update to existing models through watchOS 7. For sleep tracking the battery would need to have a larger capacity which leads us to believe it could be exclusive to the series 6.
It was reported by 9to5 Mac in March this year that a leak in iOS 14 code points to the Apple Watch being able to detect blood-oxygen levels. This makes sense as iOS would need to keep track of these metrics to report in the health application. A teardown by iFixit actually shows that even existing Apple watches contain a sensor which is said to be a blood oxygen monitor, it just has not been activated. Again, we don’t know if this will be exclusive to the series 6 or WatchOS 7. The advantage would be that the series 6 would have more detailed measurements.
5. Mental Health Focus
The final heavily rumoured feature of the Apple Watch Series 6 is that there will be a greater emphasis on mental health. It has been suggested that this could also feature in WatchOS7 as it could be mostly integrated with the software. The rumours suggest that this new feature could actually detect panic attacks. It is unclear how this would work but it could involve sensors like the heart rate monitor, ECG and possibly the blood oxygen sensor with one well-designed algorithm behind it.
I have picked out those five key rumours as they appear to be the most realistic and logical next steps. We will find out more details over the coming months with the launch of WatchOS7 and finally in September with the unveiling of the series 6.
