Earlier this morning, a sketchy rumor from Weibo claimed that the forthcoming Apple Watch Pro might not be compatible with old bands. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, however, says that this is not the case, and he expects Apple Watch Pro to work with the Apple Watch bands you already own…
A report on the Chinese social media website Weibo this morning from the leaker “UnclePan” claimed that the Apple Watch Pro would break compatibility with older Apple Watch bands. Instead of being able to use the bands you already own, this would require you to buy new versions made specifically for the Apple Watch Pro.
If the Apple Watch Pro were to drop support for older Apple Watch bands, this would mark the first time Apple has broken band compatibility. Through the multiple sizing changes to the Apple Watch, Apple has retained compatibility with every Apple Watch band. Even those bands you bought way back in 2015 still work with the latest Apple Watch Series 7.
In a post on Twitter following this morning’s rumor, Gurman wrote that he belives the Apple Watch Pro “will support older bands,” but that they might not “fit as well or look as seamless.”
I believe the Apple Watch Pro will support older bands — though maybe they won’t fit as well or look as seamless given the size of the new watch.
One possibility is that Apple markets the Apple Watch Pro as requiring new bands, but that the old bands technically still work. We saw a similar situation with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro last year when Apple said it would work with the previous-generation Magic Keyboard, but could not “precisely fit when closed.”
One question that does remain is whether or not bands designed for the Apple Watch Pro will work with other Apple Watch models. Will you be able to buy an Apple Watch Pro band and slap it on your Apple Watch Series 7? That remains to be seen.
This back-and-forth in the rumor mill will be settled in just over a week, though I’m inclined to side with Gurman over the Weibo rumor. Apple is expected to launch the new Apple Watch Pro during its special “Far out” event on September 7, alongside the Apple Watch Series 8 and iPhone 14.
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