Jeff Williams announcing September Apple Watch updates – AFP
In addition to launching a new 4-inch iPhone likely called the “iPhone 5se,” Apple plans to announce new Apple Watch models in March. The new lineup will be similar to the September 2015 Apple Watch revision, bringing a series of new band color options to the Apple Watch lineup. We are also told that entirely new bands made out of new materials are in development in addition to partnerships with firms beyond Hermes. Last year, Apple had discussed partnering up with popular third-party accessory makers, such as Incase, in some official fashion, but it is unclear if those are ready for this March revision.
The March Apple Watch update is unlikely to include new hardware functionality, but Apple is said to be preparing to formally release the WatchOS 2.2 update, which went into the developer beta stage earlier this month, alongside the new variations. Developer betas have revealed that the new software allows for multiple Apple Watches to be synced to a single iPhone in addition to new functionality in the Maps app. It is likely that Apple has more enhancements for this March update in development. We are told that a full second-generation redesign of the Apple Watch is scheduled to ship in the fall and is currently tracking a September announcement, a possibility TechCrunch recently raised, not this spring.
With new Apple Watch bands and software features in the pipeline along with the new iPhone model and iOS 9.3, sources say that Apple is still tentatively planning a small media event in March. Apple’s current plans call for an event-based introduction during the week of March 14th, but this could be reliant upon another product becoming ready for introduction in the spring, such as the in-the-works iPad Air 3. A major iOS app developer tells us that it started seeing signs in November that new iPad models codenamed “iPad 6,3 and 6,4,” which would slot between the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Pro in Apple’s internal naming lineup, are in testing. It is possible that this event could turn into an online announcement if the third announcement is not ready for March.
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Please let your next article be about Macbook Pros.
So basically I won’t own a Apple Watch until fall. Thanks for the heads up.
Hardly surprising…the next watch will be sold in the holiday season like everything else they make.
I am thinking about picking up a refurb from cowboom.com ($199-$220) to play with this model – the resale value should continue be very high in September.
Thats a nice plan, I will think about that.
Thanks for the idea.
Otherwise I will wait.
So either Apple is going for a 18-month cycle, or they just stretched the first cycle to 18 months so that they can keep launching new models in time for the holidays.
I’d say the latter. They weren’t ready for their planned fall launch in 2014 so they unveiled it and launched it in spring 2015. They want it to be a fall launch alongside new iPhones, so, it will be held off until the fall, where it will become a yearly fall update.
In March they might get a useless FaceTime camera update.
So you’re saying there will be a new watch in March and In the Fall?
Yup. That’s really going to happen
*rolls eyes*
Do people really believe that rumor? Sheeesh!
It was a made-up rumor that would invariably fail.
This is really not worth an event unless they release smart bands. They’d be smart to do accessories for the Apple Watch/iPhone in other sensor laden wearables, because you can’t sense everything from the wrist.
Probably not an event by itself but worth mentioning, especially if Apple are already hosting a media event.
No harm in mentioning new seasonal colours for the watch and if they are going to talk about iOS 9.3, why not mention watchOS 2.2?
I meant a March event in general isn’t worth having unless they have a dramatically new product to unveil. iPhone 5se, iPad, and Apple Watch bands (unless they are smart bands) are not worth an event by themselves or together, they need something else along with them.
I’m still going to wait until Apple Watch 2. It will be a full 2 years since they announced the first Watch if it comes out in September this year. Hopefully that means a nice big upgrade. If they announce a 2x faster chip with improved wifi and built in GPS, I’ll be happy. A FaceTime camera would be a quirky bonus, but not something I can see myself using loads.
Maybe they’ll update the watch with every major iPhone release? (Apple Watch 2, 3, 4 with iPhone 7, 8, 9…)
It would make sense for them to do this, you’re paying over A$1000 for an iPhone every year plus another A$1400 for the iPad Pro … Adding another A$900+ every year is a little frustrating so it would be quite a relief if Apple was to do this.
(I know, I know… Nothing stopping me from NOT buying every year, right?)
If you upgrade Apple products each year… well… you are asking for it…
Based on the pace of the markets, I’d say skip the iPad Pro upgrade if you want to save money. There’s probably more room for rapid advancements in the watch vs the iPad which has been pretty slow going so far as advancements go.
A FaceTime camera isn’t a bonus it’s a detriment to everyone, because it takes away from things that are a trillion times more useful. There should never be a camera on any iteration of the watch.
I’m actually curious what the iPad 3 will entail
Oops, meant iPad Air 3.
Hopefully apple pencil support
If they call that iPad Air 3 Apple’s marketing is officially garbage. In no way shape or form can that iPad be described as ‘Air’ any longer. Sorry to say, but the iPad Mini 4 has an identical design, and therefore, is by far the most ‘Airy’. They need to call it iPad or iPad something, but not iPad Air 3, for the love of intelligent naming schemes. However, considering the rumor is that they’re calling the new 4″ iPhone the iPhone 5se then I don’t think they are marketing right anymore. I don’t know why they wouldn’t just call it iPhone 6 Mini. According to the rumors it has iPhone 6 design and 6 and 6S specs, so just call it iPhone 6 Mini. iPhone 5se sounds horrible, why would someone want to buy an iPhone 5se? I’d be much happier telling people I had an iPhone 6 Mini.
@smoothies
I agree regarding the naming scheme for iPad and the rumored “new” 4″ iPhone. For iPad, personally I think Apple just go with iPad mini, iPad, iPad Pro.
Guessing the re-design will still be compatible with the current gen bands? Wonder if we’re seeing an iPhone like cycle where cases work between two generations (i.e. watch bands work between two generations).
Well given these are dumb bands I don’t see why what’s on the market now can’t work indefinitely. If and when they introduce sensors or extended batteries into the band, then we might need to worry about comparability for those smart bands as interfaces and software is updated.
I demand new 17” Retina MacBook Pro
Darn. I was hoping for a second edition. At the moment I think the price is still two high for a first gen, but would be more tempted at a second gen at the same price.
Now I have the issue of deciding whether to jump on board with the new line up, or wait until October when my phone contract is renewed and get the iPhone 7 with the 2nd edition Apple Watch.
Apple don’t make things easy for me. Lol.
There were constant $100 off sales on the Apple Watch during the late November to Christmas timeframe.
Well unless they accepted Japanese yen and were willing to ship to Japan for free…I live in Japan, here they haven’t had any sales on the Apple Watch. In fact the cheapest is on Amazon with 4-5000 yen knocked off (but only some of the time…sometimes Amazon is more expensive than the Apple Store…other stores got the watch just before xmas)
The Watch is always going to have a long update cycle, probably 2 – 3 years. Most people will probably upgrade it every 4 or 5 years.
If there are several new Macs ready we could still see a spring event. Apple will want to explain the new iPhone because many in the media will not know what to make of it. They won’t quietly put it on their website they will save the unveiling to wwdc if they have to.
There will be a new watch yearly. If you’re saying people won’t upgrade for years, I doubt that also. The watch will be updated by users proportionate to sensors, which I see coming in bands more, so in that respect I think it may be slowly upgraded, however, like the iPad, the market saturation is currently extremely low. The next 3-4 years will see steady increase in watch sales until the market is saturated, at which point it could see iPad like upgrade cycles from users.
If Apple focuses on a major sensor and perfecting it and enhancing the previous year’s sensors each year, that will get a lot of people to upgrade yearly or biannually.
Here’s the thing though, Apple is going to start doing more Apple Upgrade Programs like they introduced for the iPhone. This gets people to get the new device yearly, without considering its new features.
I agree, but I also think it would be wise for them to support the hardware for much longer timeframes than with phones, given the higher cost and expected lifespan of a watch. But then again, we were used to landline phones that had a lifespan measured in decades or even centuries before smartphones…
Well I doubt the first gen watch will be able to use smart bands, I bet the come alongside the Apple Watch 2 in the fall, because I’m guessing they change the diagnostic port they currently have to a smart connector and introduce smart bands that can charge the watch, that have more sensors, etc.
If I were an entrepreneur when Apple releases the Apple Watch 2 and Made for Apple Watch smart band specs, I’d make bands with low lux LEDs for things like concerts. Also as flashlight band that could disperse light evenly so you could work using both hands in the dark. Assuming Apple allows the watch to power the bands in its specs, and how much power it allows, although LED take little power.
you’ve sure got a boner for new sensors and so-called “smart-bands” that are on the verge of taking the world by storm! You have mentioned them in almost every one of your comments and have thrown in your two cents as a reply to almost every other comment. Do you work as some type of market analyst? Or are you just one of those anti-social yet annoying online f**cks with no friends in real life?
I think yearly updates are likely, at least for the next few years. Smart Watches in general have a hell of a long way until they reach their potential, Apples Watch included. With the amount of significant improvements that can be made there’s no reason to be on a three year release cycle at this point, especially when other mobile technologies are progressing incredibly quickly and much of that will filter back down to the Watch.
If you look at the wish list go the Apple Watch, in many cases it’ll be far longer than the same list for an iPhone or iPad. Only once they start nailing some of those features different people consider essential (better battery, less iPhone reliance, GPS, water proofing etc) should Apple even think about slowing down on its release cycle.
Look how far Samsungs devices have come. Certainly they have their issues still, but Apples going to look very flat footed and irrelevant in the space if their next watch was to ship in 2017 or 2018.
Well the number one reason you know factually that there will be a watch every year is because of Tim Cook’s statement that they will not put the watch through FDA approval process so they don’t hinder innovation in the watch. This means they don’t want the watch to be held up by the long approval process. They will instead put ‘adjacent’ products through FDA approval so they can still release a watch with new features yearly, and release the new sensors in bands or other wearables as they are approved. My pure speculation would be that if they are able to prove the sensors work in bands, they will be able to eventually start adding that back into the watch itself, because the approval shouldn’t be a problem if it’s the same sensor tech as the band that has already been approved.
How you guys think a new iPhone will be called a 5 something boggles my mind! It looks like a small 6, it’s being released in the same year as the 7, calling it a 5 makes no sense.
Unless of course it really is just an updated 5. Which would be super disappointing.
As long as the new watch is compatible with old bands, I”m completely fine. Or make a trade program for new ones.
Nothing to be excited, just new bands for the old watch. Yeeepeeee!
Whereeeeee are the MacBooks?!!?!