Apple announced that it’s holding a special event on 14 September and the rumor mills indicate towards the annual launch of the new iPhone. While the launch of the iPhone 12 was delayed last year due to the coronavirus outbreak, it looks like Apple is back on track with the iPhone 13 launch this year. The rumors and speculations don’t end there though. Reports also suggest that the iPhone 13 will be accompanied by the AirPods 3 and the Apple Watch 7. As with every new Apple product, we’ve seen tons of leaks already giving us a rough idea about what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 7 and that’s exactly what we’ll go over in this article.
Apple Watch 7: Release Date
The Apple Watch Series 6 and the Apple Watch SE were launched with the iPad Air last year during Apple’s September event. Since it’s been exactly a year, it’s safe to assume that the Apple Watch Series 7 would be launching sometime soon. Given that Apple has announced a special event on 14 September, it only makes sense for them to launch the Apple Watch on that day itself along with the iPhone instead of holding a separate event.
However, back in August this year, Nikkei Asia reported that the Apple Watch 7’s production has been delayed due to some quality issues and more recently, due to the global chip shortage. It’s also rumored that the new Apple Watch has complex design elements that might be contributing to the delayed production. While there were rumors that the production of the Apple Watch had begun last month, it did not enter large-scale manufacturing due to some errors in the design.
Mark Gurman, a renowned Apple analyst mentioned in his newsletter (via 9to5Mac) that Apple might as well announce the Apple Watch Series 7 on stage alongside the iPhone 13 but may delay the date from which it will be made available to purchase. There’s also a possibility that the wearable will be available to purchase in limited quantities or in select configurations at the time of launch with more stocks coming in later.
Just before sending this article for editing, Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple has sorted all the issues with the mass production of the Apple Watch Series 7 and it is expected to start shipping at the end of September. However, still expect smaller quantities or some delay in shipment, just because the chip shortage is acute and could throw a wrench in plans.
Apple Watch 7: Price and Variants
It’s safe to assume that the Apple Watch Series 7 will cost similar to what the Series 6 costed as launch. Apple has stuck to its pricing strategy for the past few generations now and it’s unlikely that it’s going to change this year. The Series 6 Apple Watch was launched at a starting price of $399 for the 40mm variant and we’re expecting the price to remain the same for the base configuration of the Apple Watch 7.
As for the variants, the Apple Watch 6 came in two size configurations — 40mm and 44mm — in either Wi-FI or cellular. This year’s watch is expected to be slightly larger at 41mm and 45mm. While we’re unsure of the size, the connectivity features are expected to remain the same even on this year’s models.
Design and Display
The Apple Watch has remained largely similar in terms of looks over the years. To the untrained eye, differentiating between a Series 4 Apple Watch and a Series 6 Apple Watch is surely going to be a difficult task. However, that’s expected to change with the Apple Watch 7, at least going by Ming-Chi Kuo’s report and Jon Prosser’s renders. The iPhone 4 had squared-off edges that Apple reintroduced with the iPad Pro refresh in 2018. The same design language has now carried over to the iPhone with the iPhone 12 and going by Jon’s renders, it seems like the Apple Watch 7 is also going to have a square-ish chassis.
The square design makes the watch look quite different from the current-gen Apple Watches. Due to this design change, there were some reports indicating that the Apple Watch bands shipping with the Series 7 may not be universally compatible/backward compatible with other Apple Watches. Right from the first-gen Apple Watch, the bands used by Apple were interchangeable and compatible with all versions of the Apple Watch. This may, however, change this time due to the way the watch is designed.
Just like the display on the iPhone 12 series, the Apple Watch 7 is also expected to get a flat display panel instead of a curved one on previous Apple Watches. Renders from 91mobiles also support this particular claim. The bezels are also reportedly going to be slimmer on the Apple Watch 7 giving users a larger surface area to view the different elements on the watch while retaining a similar footprint as its predecessors. MacRumors also reported that the new Apple Watch will have a slight size bump to 41mm and 45mm.
Specifications and Features
Image: 91mobiles
Inferring from previous-gen Apple Watches, the Series 7 Apple Watch might come with the S7 chip from Apple to handle CPU duties. While the CPU may bring about an improvement in performance, battery life is where the gains are expected to be larger. The Apple Watch has generally lasted about a day or a day and a half at most on a single charge. The Apple Watch 7 might finally have a better battery life if we go by the rumors.
The Watch will run WatchOS 8 and is also expected to receive improvements in the form of better health monitoring. It was initially rumored that the Apple Watch Series 7 will have blood glucose monitoring but it seems like that plan is delayed and it won’t happen this year. There were also rumors about the Apple Watch 7 having a blood pressure monitor which was later dismissed by Mark Gurman.
SpO2 monitoring was introduced last year with the Series 6 Apple Watch and it was an important feature especially with the onset of the pandemic. This time though, it seems like there’s no ground-breaking health feature that’s going to be introduced with the Apple Watch. Samsung implemented a BIA sensor to measure body composition right from the watch on the Galaxy Watch 4 so it would be interesting to see if Apple responds with a similar feature on the Series 7.
That’s pretty much everything we know about the Apple Watch Series 7 that’s expected to launch soon. The major changes seem to be in the form of a radical redesign as well as better battery life, something that most smartwatches have lacked. It seems like Apple is trying to create a unique identity with the boxy design since most of its major products now follow a similar design language.
What do you think about the Apple Watch 7 based on the available information? Let us know in the comments below!
The post Apple Watch Series 7 Rumor Roundup: Release Date, Price, Features, and more! appeared first on xda-developers.
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