Apple is currently planning a March 2016 event to unveil the second-generation Apple Watch, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. The second version of the Apple Watch would then ship by April, nearly a year after the original model first went on sale. Apple has also been working on a new “iPhone 6c” with a 4-inch display, which also could appear at this event, according to the sources…
Apple began to develop technologies destined for future Apple Watch models long before the first generation even shipped. As we previously reported, Apple has been working on new camera, wireless, sleep tracking, and health sensor technologies for the wearable device, but it is currently unclear which of these additions are will appear on the model planned to be introduced in March. Apple last updated the device in September with new colors, bands, and software features.
The iPhone 6c would enable Apple to continue to use smaller 4-inch displays, which were first introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012 and continue to be used in the iPhone 5s and sixth-generation iPod touch. Some Apple users have explained that they prefer the smaller size to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5 iPhone 6s Plus displays as it is easier to use with one hand. The device’s technical specifications will fall somewhere between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6s, with rumors suggesting that the phone may preserve earlier iPhone camera features while including the new iPhone A9 chip.
A March event in 2016 would be the second March event in a row for Apple, marking a shift from the company solely holding major events in the second half of each calendar year. At last year’s March event, Apple debuted the 12-inch MacBook, unveiled the ResearchKit iPhone framework, and finalized the first version of the Apple Watch. Previous to this year, Apple’s last March event was in 2012 to announce the first iPad with a Retina display.
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I don’t think people want the smaller 4″ display, they want the smaller chassis, not the display. There are a lot of bezel space around the iPhone and if Apple reduce it enough, it might be enough to make it usable with one hand even with the same 4.7″ display.
Heck, if they put the Touch ID under the display like what they already have described in their patents, it can be more compact than the iPhone 5/5S, negating the need to have a smaller screen in the first place.
Removing the physical home button is a terrible idea, in case that’s what you’re hoping for.
It doesn’t have to be removed but it could be moved. The apple watch has the “home” button on the side. It could probably be easier to reach too.
But also I’m not apposed to a haptic home button as long as it was not apart of the screen UI. Imagine if you could force press anywhere on the bottom bezzel and get haptic like the new track pads. There would be no issue with finding the button since it’s the entire bottom edge. It also wouldn’t interfere with application functions unlike people who propose an on scree solution or gesture.
No, it’s not. Why is it terrible?
Apple’s already working on it as I mentioned they have patents on it. The bottom bezel takes up a lot of room that they’d like to reclaim to make it easier to use with one hand.
I want both. I want a smaller screen with a smaller body. I want a 4″ screen in the height of the 4s. That would be the most appealing to me. They can shrink the top/bottom bezels around the other devices too so the 4.7″ was about the height of the 5s or whatever but I still don’t think I’d be as happy with that as I would with 4″ screen.
Why do you want a smaller screen when a smaller body can give you the same one-hand experience in the same body that can give you more information?
@just-a-random-dude, This is my mockup of a shorter 6 next to the current 6. I wanted to keep it realistic but not too drastic that it wouldn’t be possible.
here is a short 4″ next to the current 6
If Apple did both, I’d choose the 4″. I don’t mind the smaller screen – it really doesn’t make much functional difference to me – and it would just feel better in my hand and pocket.
Fully agree! Besides, I mainly use it as a phone anyway. So yes, bring on the 4″ iPhone and I’ll buy.
@Greg Kaplan, I like the mockup but even better is when they kill the home button completely once they integrate the Touch ID sensor with the display. 3D Touch actions would be used for the rest of the home button’s actions. Hard presses to wake the screen up, hard swipe from the left side to activate the app switcher already exists.
Even so, your mockup is sexy.
I certainly want both a 4 inch screen and smaller bezels above and below it. Just reducing the bezels, even completely eliminating them doesn’t go far enough to make the device fit in my hand and comfortably in my pocket.
The integrated Touch ID is not the same thing as having a home button integrated into the display. A button in the display would be a bad idea. I would consider moving the button to the side, integrate Touch ID into the screen and eliminate the bottom bezel. However, this causes the following problems 1) it would be less simple to wake and unlock the phone than having Touch ID and the home button integrated 2) there is no room under the screen for a 3.5mm audio jack, so it would have to be eliminated.
I would also reduce the size of the bezel above the screen.
A home button on the side isn’t good. What you do is take the remaining bezel at the bottom, which will be there due to not taking the screen into curved edges, and you put a concave seamless dip in the glass, and use the Taptic Engine which would be located directly beneath it, to give haptic feedback to the presses. This makes it inherently waterproof, take up less space, a tactile feeling of where it is, and a seamless design.
I can’t think of a more futuristic looking iPhone than the seamless dip in the bottom bezel, edge to edge screen on the sides, chamfered glass or liquid metal square edges, a dual-array camera sensor under a slightly oval lens which no longer protrudes due to the nature of dual-array thinness aspects, no SIM card, no headphone jack, and changing the lightning port to a smart connector, and reducing the antenna lines to as thin as a hair just to separate the antennas electrically. Using liquid metal they can shoot the signals straight through it, but I believe they still must separate the antennas electrically, and thus, there would be almost imperceptible lines separating them.
1. The home button will be removed completely once Touch ID has been integrated into the display. Apple has already started to add alternatives for the remaining purposes of the home button.
The 3D touch has support for bringing up the app switcher by hard swiping from the side.
2. Just press hard on the display to wake up the display, alas 3D Touch action and also identical to double-tapping the screen for waking up certain Android devices.
3. There are already rumors that Apple is planning to remove 3.5mm audio jack (check this site for these rumors). They’ll use Bluetooth or lightening port instead.
I beg to differ. I loved that I could touch every corner of my iPhone 4S’ screen with my thumb while it was comfortably seated in the palm of a single hand. What I don’t care about is making the phone thinner. It’s great in theory, that someday we can have thin yet durable smartphones, but in the mean time, give me better battery life and a phone I can fit in my pocket again.
About time. Dude, where you been?
Maybe they’ll also use the event to introduce a completely redesigned Mac and MacBook Pro range too…here’s hoping!
Most likely for WWDC, not March.
Not necessarily. Apple introduced the 12″ rMB at last year’s March event.
For new hardware, they tend to use events. For refreshes, it’ll be mentioned at WWDC.
Me too, 15″ Retina 4K MacBook Pro, please…
This is one of two scenarios in which this event would make sense to me. Too soon for new ATV and neither the second iteration of the watch nor a smaller iPhone justify a full event.
The other one would be refreshed iPads (air and mini) with pencil capability.
Just released the iPad mini, iPad Akr 3 could be released.
Not sure about a complete redesign, but I’m hoping for an expansion of the Retina MacBook range with Skylake m3, m5 and m7 processors and bigger screens.
I guess this would also explain the large retailer discounts on the 1st gen watch that have been and are continuing to happen (Target) over the past few weeks
Again, the 6c name has connotations that don’t seem to apply here. You have to clarify it’s a 4″ screen and that it might be made of metal and that that it might be a mix of the 5s and 6 internals for example. What was the reason for not just referring to it as ‘new 4″ iphone’ again?
Another new Apple Watch? Wow…That’s a slap to anyone looking to buy one for christmas…lol.
It’s a year after the first one… How is that a slap to anyone? If people don’t understand yearly cycle that’s their problem.
Heard rumors it will be called 7c not 6c.
It won’t be 7c that’s guaranteed. 7c would mean it would have either an A10 or the iPhone 7 body design, neither of which it will have, particularly because it is coming out like 5 months before the 7. It will be 6c or 6s mini or the like.
If Apple puts a FaceTime camera, not just in the second Apple Watch, but any watch they ever release, they are complete and utter morons that don’t deserve to release any more products because they have no one intelligent enough to cuss them out when they suggest 100% idiotic ideas like putting a FaceTime camera on a watch. A watch they have time and again specifically said is designed for very short interactions, and for glancable information. A camera on a watch is something I would absolutely never allow, anyone intelligent can surmise the problems with that, and understand the uselessness of it in under 5 seconds.
Smoothie, I think using a facetime camera on the watch the way we use facetime on the phone would be kinda silly too. But what if they are putting a camera on it for other reasons?
Remember that weird face mapping company apple bought? What if one of the uses of the camera is to get your facial expression to make sending animated emoji faster? Wouldn’t that make the interaction shorter and… literally glancable compared to scrolling through the list?
isn’t it more fun to think of what could be done differently if there was a camera than to dismiss it entirely?
That’s a gimmick though, just like the emojis are in the first place, and a camera in the device cannot be for a gimmick. The watch needs absolutely every cubic millimeter of internal space it can get, and adding a horrible, tiny 1MP camera sensor to the watch is nothing short of a disaster. Above all else, the reason it should never, ever, be done, is that the entire front bezel of the watch should eventually be display, and if they added a camera, then the top and bottom of the watch’s front glass, would have a bezel.
what ever happened to that patent that puts the camera behind the display. that works on an oled screen because software can black out the pixels when it’s time to take the picture.
I’m not I care either way but if that’s your number one concern, they have a solution.
The internal space is really important though. I see no reason why a camera would take the place of battery, but we’ll see what they do.
Agreed on both marks.
The 4″ phone could be a 7-minus
Fast processor
64G
New battery tech
Liquid metal
A fashion/exec phone
The lower end model could be 32G and aluminum
Budget/family
Yes they’ll definitely release an iPhone 7 before they release the iPhone 7.
AAPL 6 shares in the 1980s is 270 SHARES TODAY!!!
Really waiting for the smaller iphone. I love the 6s but its a wee bit bit for small people like me =)
What I want to know have they sorted the issue with the Apple Watch not working well with Tattoo’d skin. This is the only reason I don’t own one now. Oh and they need to make a larger version for normal size people..
Larger watch. Normal sized. Wow!
Thank you for this post!
I love the Apple Watch and I really look forward the second generation. What do you think they will change ??
I have read some rumors that Apple Watch 2 is being deemed as the new mini iPhone for the greater functionalities and capabilities. You can do much more than the reading emails, attending calls and managing apps through the digital watch. Apple is planning for WatchOS2 that is deemed as a faster operating system. The new watch has been very tightly integrated with the iPhone. It will even have the control for Apple Pay. The battery life is reportedly improved and Apple is also planning for face camera with the Apple Watch 2 for the video calling. However, the qualities of straps are not much improved. Also, the designs available with Apple need some freshness as Apple does not allow any third party involvement in the product.
http://www.iosvlog.com/apple-watch-2-rumors-and-specs/
A stand-alone Wi-Fi is likely to be one of the few new features they add to the AW2; because the AW1 didn’t included this feature, it turned away several people I knew from purchasing one.
Have no idea what my wife may want when she up grades from her 5c this year. What will be out there for “free”? Will she want the 5se with the same basic form factor that will fit her smaller hands? Or will she want to the up grade, and cough up some dough, ray, me on the 6s? or the 7 which should be out by that time. I will find out in October.
Has apple upgraded the iPhone watch to be use without the phone.