The next Apple Watch, which is set to launch this September, and was previously known as the Apple Watch X, is now rumoured to come with a larger screen, and will be thinner overall than its predecessor, but no other design changes are expected.
This information comes from reporting by the usually reliable Mark Gurman BloombergBoth sizes of the Watch X will have large screens, with the larger version having a display roughly the same size as the Apple Watch Ultra.
Apple Watch Series 9
There won’t be any major changes in terms of design in the Apple Watch Ultra this year. Inside, things will be different. Both the Apple Watch X and Apple Watch Ultra will have a new chip, which could enable some Apple intelligence features in the future. But they won’t come this year, as right now Apple is only focused on bringing AI to the iPhone, iPad and Mac, and Vision Pro as the next step.
The much-anticipated release of blood pressure tracking may not come this year, as Apple has reportedly noticed “some serious glitches” with it, finding that it hasn’t been as reliable as expected during testing. This was particularly the case when pairing the feature with the new Apple Watch X design (we believe its thinness may be the reason, but only Apple knows for sure).
Apple Watch Series 9
Anyway, even when this feature is activated, it will not tell you your exact blood pressure – it will detect your baseline and monitor if it is higher than expected and notify you.
Another troublesome feature for Apple is sleep apnea tracking, which is tied to your blood oxygen saturation. Apple is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Masimo about this, and so Apple Watches can’t measure blood oxygen levels until that’s resolved. So either the lawsuit is over by September, or Apple finds a solution. Or, the more likely scenario, the feature will continue to be delayed.
Apple is also reportedly working on a new entry-level Apple Watch SE, which could be made of rigid plastic instead of aluminum to cut costs and compete directly with Samsung’s Galaxy Watch FE, which is priced at $199 compared to $249 for Apple’s current Watch SE.
