Here’s some potentially good news for Apple Watch owners who are envious of the Apple Watch Ultra’s screen: the Apple Watch Series 10 could have the same size screen as the company’s 49mm external watch. This is in addition to other possible improvements, such as a thinner case and a new chip that could “lay the groundwork for some AI improvements in the future.” according to Mark Gurman’s latest report To connect Bloomberg newsletter.
The display rumor appears to back up a CAD render from last month that showed a Series 10 watch with a two-inch display. Gurman says – and this rendering appears to show – that otherwise the watch won’t feature any major design changes. If that means no magnetic accessories for watch bands or something, I’m putting that part of the rumor in the “good” column – like many, I’ve accumulated several watch bands over the years and would like to keep using them if I decide to to update.
As for the new sensors, that seems more nebulous, as Gurman says Apple is struggling with two major health sensor updates it’s planning. The company has reportedly failed to increase the reliability of its supposed blood pressure monitor, and it writes that not being able to use its banned blood oxygen sensor is hampering its efforts to add sleep apnea detection.
Apple is planning a cheaper version of the Apple Watch SE to bring pricing in line with Samsung’s $199 Galaxy Watch FE. Apparently one way to do that is with a hard plastic case. This could make the watch cheaper, of course, and perhaps lighter – I can think of at least one other Apple product that could benefit from a similar decision! (The Vision Pro. I’m talking about the Vision Pro.)
Finally, Gurman states that the company plans to launch a Watch Ultra 3, but don’t expect major visual changes. However, it will receive the new chip that will power the Series 10.