The MacRumors Show: Where Does the Apple Watch Go Next?

[IIGS User]

Where does the Apple Watch go ?

On your wrist 🙂.

Step to the left and be fitted for your uniform, Captain Obvious. 😆

There will be a lot of Ultra 1 users upgrading to the Ultra 4 this year to run the latest watchOS. I for one was really hoping for a full redesign, in addition to the new S chip.

There will be a lot of Ultra 1 users who won’t be upgrading to the Ultra 4 because they purchased a premium product that was essentially obsolete in 3 years. Like me.

Sure, it still tells time and does Apple Pay. But I’m trapped on 26 for life and I paid $800 for this thing 3 years ago. Bunch of horse **** if you ask me.

This will be the last Apple Watch I purchase until either it offers some awesome health tracking like actual BP or glucose tracking. Until then I’m not paying that premium price for something that won’t be FULLY supported in such a short period of time.

Apple could have made a stripped out version of Watch 27 that didn’t include all the new features you needed a U 2 for. I would have been perfectly fine with that. Then maybe I get a taste of the next thing and that cajoles me into upgrading. Now I’m just felt with that ex girlfriend feeling.

 

[tech_enthusiast_]

It goes round. Absolutely zero interest until they make a round one.

Not going to happen, and for good reason. The purpose of the Apple Watch display (as opposed to a watch with basic functions) is to show data and notifications in text. Text is inherently rectangular and is extremely irritating to read and scroll through when it's trapped inside a circle. If you look at a Pixel watch or a Samsung watch you can see how exceedingly dumb it is to try to scroll through notifications or use buttons inside a round display.

There's a reason why 99.99% of the displays around us in the world are rectangular.

 

[yurgrenn]

Round smartwatch is a form-over-function skeuomorphism that brings no benefit except resembling something that it isn't, which is stupid especially that it detracts from functionality. Analog time indication is quick and intuitive indeed but it works just fine with rectangular dial. Also I think wraparound form factor is interesting direction for the category.

 

[azentropy]

A round design would be a totally illogical design choice from a UI/UX perspective. What tech devices do you use in your daily life with a round display? Basically none with the exception of a Nest. There's a reason round displays effectively don't exist because they're a complete waste of screen real estate due to UI's being square/rectangular which is the most efficient design for any UI. The relatively few tech devices that have round screens still have a square UI in the middle of the display with the rounded space around the square completely wasted.

Square/rectangular designs are also the most efficient designs for internal components hence the reason you don't see round phones, tablets, laptops, etc.

If you want a round display, get a real watch which has a single function that lends itself to round interface.

Samsung, Google, Garmin, Citizen, Seiko, Amazfit and many many others have figured out how to make a round smart watch but Apple can't?

Round smartwatch is a form-over-function skeuomorphism that brings no benefit except resembling something that it isn't, which is stupid especially that it detracts from functionality. Analog time indication is quick and intuitive indeed but it works just fine with rectangular dial. Also I think wraparound form factor is interesting direction for the category.

Some people are fine giving up a little functionality for fashion and comfort.

Just another point, the Apple watch isn't perfectly rectangle/square as it too has rounded off corners. So at some point they too have figured out rounding the corners does have some benefit.

 

[GadgetGill]

Think Apple have an opportunity to make the Apple Watch and the Apple Fitness band one of the same where you can just detach or slide the watch of the apple fitness band so you have the best of both worlds, just an idea!!!! Move the health sensors out of the watch and into the apple fitness band then bingo, watch battery life doubles!!!

 

[terrapinjess]

The only way I’d ever even consider another Apple Watch is if it is an MIP display that is extremely power efficient.
My Garmin Enduro 3, I can’t even begin to describe how much it blows the Apple Watch out of the water. It works so much better for my lifestyle, allows for more customization, has better health features, allows me to edit and trim my workouts… It’s better than any Apple Watch I’ve ever owned: Ultra 3, 2, Apple Watch 8, 7, 4…. I’ve tried for years to make Apple’s watch work for me but it always just fell short and becomes boring.

 

[switz]

My Ultra 3 watch lasts much more than 24 hours. If I wear it in bed overnight, then in the moring while I get started it needs 15 minutes on the charger while I eat breakfast. So more battery is not necessary for me. I have spare stainless steel watch bands so will probably get Ultra 4 to get the use of the bands.

 

[Nibo10]

Unfortunately in London, so on the same boat with H.

 

[hokuspokus]

I hope they expand the hypertension feature to accurate blood pressure measurements. Definitely more convenient than my arm cuff.

I'm actually keeping an eye on the Signal Ring that was announced. They claim to have very accurate blood pressure measurements. If that turns out to be true via independent testing, they'd I'd get it.

 

[Parowdy]

Nice blatant clickbait thumbnail. Reason enough to ghost your YouTube channel further.

 

[Parowdy]

It goes round. Absolutely zero interest until they make a round one.

Ok. Why? What tangible benefits does a round display offer on a smartwatch?

 

[Parowdy]

I always thought a pocket watch version of the apple watch could be cool. Of course that eliminates probably 99% of the health features since it's not on your wrist all the time. And a square apple watch wouldn't work, so they'll have to develop a round version. Lots of down sides and work for a very niche apple watch. 🙁

Why does a square screen not work? I’ve used my Apple Watch as a pocket watch a couple of times (working something where I can’t or shouldn’t wear anything on my wrist), turned off wrist detection, detached one side of the strap and attach it to the belt loop closest to the pocket.
I don’t see how the 4 rounded corners of the screen stand in the way of that. To the contrary, a bigger screen that’s further away from your eyes makes more sense.

 

[triumvirate]

Mine went for sale. 🤣

 

[A1423]

Step to the left and be fitted for your uniform, Captain Obvious.



There will be a lot of Ultra 1 users who won’t be upgrading to the Ultra 4 because they purchased a premium product that was essentially obsolete in 3 years. Like me.

Sure, it still tells time and does Apple Pay. But I’m trapped on 26 for life and I paid $800 for this thing 3 years ago. Bunch of horse **** if you ask me.

This will be the last Apple Watch I purchase until either it offers some awesome health tracking like actual BP or glucose tracking. Until then I’m not paying that premium price for something that won’t be FULLY supported in such a short period of time.

Apple could have made a stripped out version of Watch 27 that didn’t include all the new features you needed a U 2 for. I would have been perfectly fine with that. Then maybe I get a taste of the next thing and that cajoles me into upgrading. Now I’m just felt with that ex girlfriend feeling.

I find people who think this way interesting. You bought a premium electronic device that you knew or should have known becomes obsolete in 3-5 years. You paid $800 for your U1. 800/3 is $266.66 a year or $22.22 a month. So for less than a $1 a day, around $0.75. You had your watch. Would you say your watch is worth that amount per day?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Battery life is garbage after a few years. Same with the phones.

My Ultra 2 had 99% health after 2 years. A relative of mine was using my series 3 up till recently. Yeah it won’t have 100% health but they can do well.

I find people who think this way interesting. You bought a premium electronic device that you knew or should have known becomes obsolete in 3-5 years. You paid $800 for your U1. 800/3 is $266.66 a year or $22.22 a month. So for less than a $1 a day, around $0.75. You had your watch. Would you say your watch is worth that amount per day?

Agreed. It’s not like the watch won’t do what it did the day it was purchased. It’ll get security updates for 5-6+ years. It’ll continue to work with the latest iOS for many more years to come. I see a lot of old Apple Watches still being used today.

 

[riverfreak]

Hartley’s assessment here is 95% spot-on. He’s wrong about travel — I find the Apple Watch enormously useful for long haul travel.

Too many of its other features have been left to languish. Most of these limitations could be addressed by software. Instead we get … Liquid Glass which looks horrible and makes the Watch more difficult to read?

As a fitness device, it’s at best middling. Sure, it has many workouts. Most of them are just labels on a generic heart rate recording and don’t record anything specific or provide any sort of assessment. Worse yet, the data that is collected is buried. When it is available, it requires third party apps to deal with it.

On MR the “Ultra” is often thought to be intended for extreme athletes but that’s just so far from the mark. The battery life when using GPS to say, oh I don’t know, record a ROUTE, is horrific. Worse yet, to do so efficiently requires a third party app (shoutout to WorkOutDoors which fills many egregious gaps). Want to set a waypoint using the built in functionality? Where does it end up? Can you see them on a map? How do I add routes and waypoints in advance? It’s been three+ years since the Ultra was released and no real improvements to these capabilities. The “action” button is useless and the side buttons get pressed inadvertently so often doing anything active with wrist flexion.

You can’t compare the Apple Watch to the sport-driven Garmin watches. They are different tools with quite different hardware (eg the MIPS displays). But someone at Apple should get a requisition to go buy a bunch of Garmin products and study what they’ve done. There’s a lot of throwaway features, the UI is often horrendous, and the dependability is sometimes questionable. But they are serious about making something purpose-driven besides just trickling updates.

I’m hoping for something new from Apple but for now, I’m playing out my Ultra 1 until it dies and using my Fenix 8 for anything outside.

 

[riverfreak]

Not going to happen, and for good reason. The purpose of the Apple Watch display (as opposed to a watch with basic functions) is to show data and notifications in text. Text is inherently rectangular and is extremely irritating to read and scroll through when it's trapped inside a circle. If you look at a Pixel watch or a Samsung watch you can see how exceedingly dumb it is to try to scroll through notifications or use buttons inside a round display.

There's a reason why 99.99% of the displays around us in the world are rectangular

On the other hand, maps work EXTREMELY well in a circle. Especially when the battery life lasts more than 6 hours.

 

[BigMcGuire]

On the other hand, maps work EXTREMELY well in a circle. Especially when the battery life lasts more than 6 hours.

Was going to say, not sure if this is an Ultra feature or not but my wife and I went hiking on the other side of our state a few months ago and I had this weird symbol at the bottom of my watch - Wayback feature. And it did really well, as we didn't stay on the primary path and walked around. But does using GPS sure drain battery!

I need to try the WorkOutDoors app - that thread is massive.

And re your Garmin thoughts - I'd love an Apple Watch with MIP that has haptic alarm and lasts a month or two on a charge 😛

 

[tech_enthusiast_]

Samsung, Google, Garmin, Citizen, Seiko, Amazfit and many many others have figured out how to make a round smart watch but Apple can't?

From an interface design perspective (as an interface designer), I would not say that any of those companies have figured it out. If you look at their interfaces with a critical eye, you'll see that outside of the watch face and a few specialized charts that make sense for a round layout, the view types are just rectangular layouts squished inside a circular display, wasting all the extra screen real estate.

Some examples, which I've marked up to show where the interface actually sits inside the circle:

 

[IIGS User]

I find people who think this way interesting. You bought a premium electronic device that you knew or should have known becomes obsolete in 3-5 years. You paid $800 for your U1. 800/3 is $266.66 a year or $22.22 a month. So for less than a $1 a day, around $0.75. You had your watch. Would you say your watch is worth that amount per day?

Well, the U1 was launched in 9/22 at $799. They’re cutting off actual upgrade support this fall. This is/was a flagship item. Four years is short for even Apple. I seriously don’t think anyone who bought a U1 expected it to be “obsolete in 3 years” as you cited in your OP.

Apple came out with the iPhone 11 in 2019. Three years before the U1 but the 11 is getting iOS 27 support as a 7 year old product. More along the lines of the support I expected from a flagship device purchase.

You’re “.75 a day” fruitsplaining math is just a way to hide how bad of a value it turns out to be in the end. You take a 4 year life cycle and an $800 price and come to a number that quite frankly if explained as such would probably make most people think twice.

“Hey, purchase this Apple Watch Ultra for $800. It’s our flagship product and even though in the past we have a history of supporting flagship products for 7+ years we’re only supporting this one for FOUR YEARS. Just figured you should know that going in”.

Well then maybe your .75 a day argument would hold up a little. No one who bought a U1 at launch EVER expected a 4 year life cycle out of it. This is not how Apple has handled software upgrades in the past.

Six years would have been a totally different story. Strip out the AI slop and give me what you can as far as the upgrade. Instead you took and just kicked some of your most loyal users to the curb.

Now that I KNOW I should only expect a 4 year support window from an $800 watch you can bet your donkey I won’t buy another one.

Apple has made it clear how long they will support it and if I bought another one? Well that’s on me now. But I’m not buying that twice.

 

[A1423]

Well, the U1 was launched in 9/22 at $799. They’re cutting off actual upgrade support this fall. This is/was a flagship item. Four years is short for even Apple. I seriously don’t think anyone who bought a U1 expected it to be “obsolete in 3 years” as you cited in your OP.

Apple came out with the iPhone 11 in 2019. Three years before the U1 but the 11 is getting iOS 27 support as a 7 year old product. More along the lines of the support I expected from a flagship device purchase.

You’re “.75 a day” fruitsplaining math is just a way to hide how bad of a value it turns out to be in the end. You take a 4 year life cycle and an $800 price and come to a number that quite frankly if explained as such would probably make most people think twice.

“Hey, purchase this Apple Watch Ultra for $800. It’s our flagship product and even though in the past we have a history of supporting flagship products for 7+ years we’re only supporting this one for FOUR YEARS. Just figured you should know that going in”.

Well then maybe your .75 a day argument would hold up a little. No one who bought a U1 at launch EVER expected a 4 year life cycle out of it. This is not how Apple has handled software upgrades in the past.

Six years would have been a totally different story. Strip out the AI slop and give me what you can as far as the upgrade. Instead you took and just kicked some of your most loyal users to the curb.

Now that I KNOW I should only expect a 4 year support window from an $800 watch you can bet your donkey I won’t buy another one.

Apple has made it clear how long they will support it and if I bought another one? Well that’s on me now. But I’m not buying that twice.

I think your blanket assertion that no one expected that is flat out incorrect. I have a U3 I got on launch day. I fully expected it to be obsolete in 3-5 years and now, 2 and a half to 3 years.

I’d also say that the ultra is not really its flagship. It’s a utilitarian Apple Watch for active people.

And anything Apple with a screen for $0.75 a day is a good deal and worth while. Apple products are a premium product, you can choose to have the premium product and the experience that goes with it or not.

Having an Apple Watch Ultra(and other comparable smart watches are expensive), you spent $800 on a depreciating asset. Why are you so bent out of shape it depreciated?

If you want things to retain value, usefulness, and not become obsolete, with emerging technology, don’t buy an electronic device.

 

[code-m]

I always thought a pocket watch version of the apple watch could be cool. Of course that eliminates probably 99% of the health features since it's not on your wrist all the time. And a square apple watch wouldn't work, so they'll have to develop a round version. Lots of down sides and work for a very niche apple watch. 🙁

A pocket watch version is called an iPhone 😉

 

[IIGS User]

I think your blanket assertion that no one expected that is flat out incorrect. I have a U3 I got on launch day. I fully expected it to be obsolete in 3-5 years and now, 2 and a half to 3 years.

I’d also say that the ultra is not really its flagship. It’s a utilitarian Apple Watch for active people.

And anything Apple with a screen for $0.75 a day is a good deal and worth while. Apple products are a premium product, you can choose to have the premium product and the experience that goes with it or not.

Having an Apple Watch Ultra(and other comparable smart watches are expensive), you spent $800 on a depreciating asset. Why are you so bent out of shape it depreciated?

If you want things to retain value, usefulness, and not become obsolete, with emerging technology, don’t buy an electronic device.

Considering something a flagship or not is subjective. Was/is Apple’s most expensive and feature laden device in a segment a flagship device? Is it not? Is the MBP a flagship device? Is it not because you or I say it is or isn’t? More doublespeak.

Presenting yourself as a reasonable example that most people who purchased this device expected it to be obsolete in 3 to 5 years is way too self serving to be credible in a serious discussion. I can peddle the idea that I think it should be supported for 10 years (I don’t) and that would still just be one person’s opinion. Using your opinion to support your own argument is kinda weak. There are plenty of people on this site alone who are bent about how watch os 27 is being rolled out in relationship to U1 support. I’m not alone in being outwardly miffed over it.

I never said I was bent out of shape over the actual value of a depreciating asset. You put those words and thoughts in my mouth. I fully expect any retail purchase to depreciate the moment it’s not “new” anymore. No different than a car or a computer or an iPhone. Now, as I established earlier in this thread Apple has in the past supported most of the devices it has made for longer than 3 years. See my example. So the reasonable person would expect longer support from a more expensive product. I don’t care that it depreciated. Same as an auto purchase. Everyone knows it depreciates the second you drive it off the lot. You also expect to be able to get repairs and updates to it for several years after you purchase it. At least at a pace for similar purchases from the same manufacturer as in the past.

I don’t expect anything I purchase retail to retain the entirety of its original value. I don’t purchase Apple products for the monetary value of it, or to sell it later, or to save money. If that’s your goal and you’re buying Apple products you’re in the wrong neighborhood. I buy a new iPhone at least every other year if not every year for. Reasons. Just because I want to or I can. Period.

I buy Apple products because historically they make excellent products that work well. And despite a higher price tag are characteristically supported longer than competitor’s products. Apple has a reputation of good long term support and customer service.

The ending of support of watch OS at 2 on the U1 breaks with that reputation.

That’s really my point, and why I’m disappointed. I simply expected better from Apple. Now, that may be my fault. It may be theirs. This may be the “new normal” for Apple going forward. This may be the typical way Apple handles the Watch/watch OS timeline from here on out. That’s fine. I made the decision that I won’t put my money into that timeline as it exists going forward. So I guess our perception of it is different and that’s that.

 

[DBR2025]

Bro should do a video on peptides.

 

[FipsAlfredsson]

I cannot see myself wearing three or more devices to track various aspects of my physiology -- if i counted correctly, Dan was wearing a ring, a fitband, and an apple watch. And then for certain sports replacing the apple watch with a Garmin device. To me, personally, that is not a desirable way to go

A smart watch gives the choice to be used as primarily a timepiece, or you can choose to display metrics you like. And you can change the display depending on current activity. It should easily be able to also track your steps, heartbeat and other physiological markers, eliminating the need for fitbit bands, rings, or potential implants.

Apart from that -- traditional wrist watches come in round and rectangular forms; i prefer round, and I think it would be good if Apple gave the choice, offering round and rectangular models. I understand this will make the OS more complex, yet it would bring more people to buying an Apple Watch. And I agree -- the Hermes watch faces are really nice.