Apple Watch Series 8—will new software add up to notable changes as predicted?
The next Apple Watch is expected this fall and will almost certainly be called Series 9. It’ll run the next software, watchOS 10. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, the big changes this year will be in the software rather than the hardware. Here’s what this industry insider is predicting.
Well, don’t hold your breath. Gurman says that “Apple Watch hardware updates will be anything but major”.
Not only do I agree, I think it might even be an overstatement. Series 9 will take the same design that arrived with Series 7. Apple usually runs a design for three years when it comes to Apple Watch, such as Series 4, 5, and 6 which had identical external designs, but for the available colors.
Similarly, the first Ultra model only landed last fall, so a change for this year would be unprecedented. Ditto the current Apple Watch SE, a looky-likey for the Series 4 design, which is also less than a year old. I don’t expect a hardware update at all to either the Ultra or the SE, or at most a processor change on the Ultra.
In short, I think the only difference for any of this year’s Watches will be in the colors for the aluminum Apple Watch Series 9.
This is where the big updates will happen. Gurman says, “I believe the new watchOS should be a fairly extensive upgrade—with notable changes to the user interface—unlike iOS 17.”
To mention the iPhone software first, it’s previously been said that iOS 17 will have some nice new features.
But the big interface changes will be reserved for the wearable. This is big news as the interface has barely advanced in recent years, save for new Watch faces and gentle revisions to how we interact with it.
But now we have the prospect of a “fairly extensive upgrade”. Exactly what this will entail isn’t clear, but we can be sure that Apple will have relentlessly thought through what could be improved.
Of course, there have been endless subtle upgrades over the years, such as the option to display apps in a list rather than a galaxy of tiny circles, for instance, so perhaps bigger changes along these lines are in store.
Some of these could become apparent very quickly, with Monday, June 5 set as the day for the keynote that will open WWDC, and our first glimpses of the software for this year’s new models—and which will apply to many existing Apple Watches, too.
Only a few weeks until the new software is revealed.
