Kerry Wan/ZDNET
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple is slated to announce new hardware next month.
- Notable Apple Watch updates could be coming, according to rumors.
- Blood pressure monitoring and sleep scores could be on the way.
We’re a month away from Apple’s annual September hardware event, where the tech giant announces its latest releases, from iPhones and iPads to AirPods and, my favorite, Apple Watches.
Rumors are swirling about what’s to come on the next generation Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 11.
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Apple’s latest smartwatch software, WatchOS 26, gives us a few glimpses at what the Series 11 is capable of. A new Workout Buddy feature guides Apple Watch users through their workouts with encouragements, personal record announcements, and progress reports. Apple’s new Liquid Glass display makes widgets, messages, and apps appear clear on the watch and mimics the display of Apple Vision Pro headset. Outside of those software updates, I’m keeping my eyes and ears open for rumors, murmurs, and whispers on Apple’s next Apple Watch.
Here’s what we’ve heard so far.
Launch timeline
Apple historically unveils its new products around the second week of September, and we expect this year’s event will be no different. After the company’s product announcements, we can expect a subsequent rollout and shipment of the new devices around a week or two later, as has been the case in the past.
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Sleep scores, at last
Your sleep could be getting graded soon if Apple adds sleep scores to its next Apple Watch. MacRumor’s Steve Moser found a “Watch Focus Score” and Apple Watch icon with an “84” score within the code of WatchOS 26 that hints at Apple’s first foray into algorithmically monitoring and ranking time spent and quality of sleep.
This is one feature I’ve been waiting for on the Apple Watch and have enjoyed using on several other smartwatches and rings. The issue with sleep scores, I’ve learned through testing several sleep trackers myself, is the fact that it’s not an objective datapoint and can differ based on the device. When I was testing out three wearables at once, I’d often receive three different, albeit closely related, sleep scores, which proved to me that a sleep score feature can’t be totally and completely objective.
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Because many of the health features Apple launches are backed by a bevy of clinical research or cleared by the FDA — Apple’s sleep apnea detection feature, for example — I’m curious how a sleep score feature would look and work on the smartwatch, and how Apple will give it its own voice or twist.
New processor
We will probably see a new processor on the Series 11 and Ultra 3, given the fact that Apple upgrades its processor with every smartwatch release.
Satellite connectivity for Ultra 3
According to serial Apple leaker Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, satellite connectivity and 5G support could be coming to Apple’s rugged Apple Watch Ultra 3, though they may skip the Watch 11.
Revamped Health app
Apple has been working on giving its Health app a facelift.
According to Gurman, Apple has been working on a major Health app revamp, code-named Project Mulberry, that would bring AI recommendations and actionable health and fitness insights to users. The most notable addition comes in the form of an AI health coach that could “replicate, at least to some extent, a real doctor,” Gurman writes. The health coach would use the data it collects from Apple’s wearables or third-party apps to provide recommendations and insights. The AI agent is being trained using data from physicians on staff, Gurman reports.
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Apple has leveraged AI already for Workout Buddy, a feature that provides stats, workout metrics, and encouragement when a user logs a workout on the watch.
Blood pressure tracking
The Apple Watch could see a highly coveted feature implemented, but whether it’s implemented in both the Series 11 and Ultra Watch 3, or one or the other, is unknown. Rumors about a new blood pressure monitoring sensor for easy monitoring without an armband are swirling. Gurman wrote that Apple was ramping up the rollout of the feature, but it seems like blood pressure monitoring has run into many hurdles.
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