Key Takeaways
- Apple Watch Series 10 may feature larger displays but retain Series 9 design; Ultra 3 could follow suit.
- Redesign feels like a solution in search of a problem; current design is compact, comfortable, and durable.
- Apple should focus on improving battery life and offering more storage for future models.
If you’ve been paying attention to the rumors surrounding the next Apple Watch, you know there’s been talk that the new model could feature the Watch’s first big redesign since the Series 4. Some reports have mentioned a slimmer case, blood pressure sensing, and a magnetic band system. There have been concerns, in fact, that Apple’s plans could make a decade of bands obsolete, at least without some sort of adapter.
More recently though, rumors have pointed to Apple scaling back its ambitions, both for the Series 10 and the Ultra 3. While leaked schematics from 91mobiles support the idea that the Series 10 will feature larger 45 and 49mm displays, it may otherwise resemble the Series 9. The Ultra 3 should follow suit, perhaps growing slightly but otherwise carrying over features from the 10.
We could see those radical design changes revived in 2025, if the rumors are right, but I’d rather Apple aim its focus elsewhere — namely on unbeatable specs.
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If it ain’t broke…
The current design gets a lot right
Apple
Apple already has a solid design foundation. The Series 9 is compact, comfortable, stylish, and durable, as long as you pick the size, color, and materials best suited to you. Its S9 chip is fast, and its display is bright and sharp, even in midday sun. The Ultra 2 may not be compact and comes in just one color, but still takes things to the next level. It’s a valid alternative to high-end Garmin watches, with all the advantages of deep iPhone integration.
A redesign feels like a solution in search of a problem.
There’s nothing fundamentally wrong, in other words. People are irritated with some of Apple’s choices — we’ll get into those in a moment — but rarely with anything that would warrant a major overhaul. I could fathom wanting an easier mechanism for bands, but even then the current system works well enough once you get used to it. Assuming Apple does adopt magnetic technology, I hope the company makes a concerted effort at backwards compatibility so I don’t have to abandon my favorite straps.
A redesign feels like a solution in search of a problem. Few people need a thinner watch, a rounder one, or one with flat edges. A magnetic band system might be more convenient for a lot of us, yet it’s hard to imagine one that would be just as secure as what we have now. The last thing you want after buying a $400-800 smartwatch is having it ripped off your arm by a piece of gym equipment.
Knowing the history of the consumer electronics industry, the biggest benefits of a redesign could go to Apple — marketing hype, reducing manufacturing costs, and/or laying the groundwork for future chips and sensors.
![garmin-lily-2-smartwatch05](https://static1.pocketlintimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/wm/2024/04/garmin-lily-2-smartwatch05.jpg)
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What should Apple change about the Apple Watch?
Battery life could be better
The most widespread issue among Apple Watch owners tends to be weak battery life. A Series 9 lasts about a day on a charge, and less than that if you regularly use features like sleep and workout tracking. The Ultra 2, meanwhile, can last three days or more, but that’s whittled down if you actually engage in the activities Apple depicts in its ads. Garmin remains the king when it comes to longevity. Even low-cost Fitbit devices can sometimes match the Ultra.
Adding as little as two-day battery life on a Series 10 or 11 would make Apple more competitive and spur upgrades from existing owners. Indeed, a lot of us wouldn’t mind a thicker Apple Watch to accommodate that — a few extra millimeters isn’t going to add a lot of weight or prevent us from rolling down our shirt cuffs. Apple might’ve made the tweak already if it weren’t concerned about batteries cutting into profit margins.
Adding as little as two-day battery life on a Series 10 or 11 would make Apple more competitive and spur upgrades from existing owners.
Sooner or later, Apple is also going to have to bite the bullet and offer more than 64GB of storage. That’s usually plenty for a smartwatch, but not if you expect people to download apps, animated watchfaces, multiple music playlists, and the offline maps coming to watchOS 11 this fall. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ultra 3 makes the leap to 128GB — hikers and runners are supposed to be the Ultra’s key demographics, after all, and it would be another way of distinguishing the device from cheaper models.
Some gripes could be fixed by spending more time and resources on software. Apple is only beginning to catch up with the level of health and fitness tracking on Garmin products, for instance adding training load metrics and offline navigation. It should also be working on custom watchfaces, smoothing out caching and sync, and increasing the Watch’s independence from iPhones. I doubt we’ll see a fully independent model in the near future — let alone one that works with Android devices — but there are a lot of Watch settings that still require pulling an iPhone out of your pocket. Simply offering Mac or iPad sync would be a step forward.
![Three Apple Watches against a graphic background with a blue to pink gradient.](https://static1.pocketlintimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/apple-training-load-featured.jpeg)
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What are the odds for this wishlist?
Apple has its own plans
Loic Salan
Not that great, if I’m being realistic. While more storage is plausible, Apple has long been stubborn about battery life, and not just on Apple Watches either. Consider that iPhones still lack two-day batteries, and that a 2024 iPad Pro gets 10 hours of non-stop video playback — the same as the original 2010 iPad. Usually Apple improves battery capacity just enough to maintain the status quo. It also seems to be obsessed with thinness again, which doesn’t bode well.
While more storage is plausible, Apple has long been stubborn about battery life, and not just on Apple Watches either.
As for watchOS, I’m optimistic that we’ll see enhanced fitness tracking, but not anything else I listed. Apple’s current software priority is Apple Intelligence, which is bound to come to Apple Watches eventually — possibly alongside the Series 10 and Ultra 3. It’s not about to divert resources to custom watchfaces if it’s worried about competing with Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot.
To be clear, I’m not expecting Apple to “wreck” the Apple Watch anytime soon. I’m actually crossing my fingers for features like Apple Intelligence, and curious as to what a redesigned Watch might look like. It’s a question of whether business priorities will align with what the public wants.
![apple intelligence subscription featured image](https://static1.pocketlintimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/apple-intelligence-subscription-featured-image.jpeg)
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