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The Apple Watch took small however vital steps ahead in 2023. Regardless that the Apple Watch Collection 9 is a modest improve over the Collection 8, its new Double Faucet gesture launched a brand new technique of interacting with the watch — the primary such change in years. The brand new widget-centric interface in WatchOS 10 additionally makes it simpler to see bits of data at a look.
However Apple might have large plans in retailer for this 12 months’s Apple Watch, if a report from Bloomberg seems to be correct. Apple might break free from its typical naming conference and name its subsequent smartwatch the Apple Watch X (learn as 10) in honor of the machine’s tenth anniversary, just like the iPhone X, in line with the report.
The so-called Apple Watch X, which can debut this 12 months or in 2025, might reportedly have a thinner design, a brand new mechanism for attaching bands, a microLED display screen and blood stress monitoring, Bloomberg says. The brand new watch can also be extra power-efficient because of a brand new sort of OLED show panel, in line with Korean information outlet The Elec.
There are many different methods Apple might enhance its smartwatch, too. The corporate might flip its watch into a fair smarter and extra useful well being assistant with extra AI integration. Since Double Faucet is comparatively new, there’s plenty of alternative for updates and optimizations that make it extra handy than truly tapping the display screen. Modifications like these could possibly be significantly vital as Apple faces contemporary competitors from Google’s Fitbit, which plans to launch new AI-powered options this 12 months, and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Ring.
Then there are the upgrades I have been wanting for years, like longer battery life, exercise restoration metrics, extra customizable exercise targets and extra sleep insights. I nonetheless hope to see these enhancements arrive both in a brand new mannequin or by means of a software program replace. However listed here are some further methods the Apple Watch might evolve in 2024.
Extra AI smarts, particularly for health-related options
Siri will have the ability to reply health-related questions on the Collection 9, because of a future software program replace.
Apple; screenshot by James Martin/CNET
Apple gave the Apple Watch Collection 9 an AI increase by making it the primary mannequin that may course of sure forms of Siri requests regionally. Queries that do not require a solution from the web — equivalent to setting alarms or timers — might be carried out on the machine itself with out pinging the cloud, rushing up the entire course of. Siri may reply to health-related questions on this means, enabling it to reply requests about your sleep from the evening earlier than and about Exercise Ring progress.
However Apple might make its watch an much more intuitive well being agent, and it appears like this new Siri performance is only one step in that course. The rise of generative AI has opened up new potentialities for making information simpler to know by delivering solutions in a extra conversational means. Google’s Fitbit, one among Apple’s opponents within the health-tracking house, is already experimenting on this space. In October, Fitbit teased a brand new program, referred to as Fitbit Labs, that’ll arrive this 12 months. It’s going to initially join the dots between sure information factors and use generative AI to reply questions equivalent to why you have been extra drained than normal after your morning run. The corporate additionally thinks AI might be useful for serving to customers set practical health targets, as Google’s Ajay Surie not too long ago informed CNET.
That sort of perception would transcend merely logging information and turning it right into a graph or chart. It could make it simpler to really change your habits primarily based on the data coming out of your smartwatch. The Apple Watch’s Exercise Rings already encourage you to stand up and transfer or take a couple of additional steps. Now think about how way more motivating it could possibly be with observations like these.
Future Apple Watches might certainly embrace extra AI-powered well being instruments. Bloomberg studies that the tech large is engaged on an AI-fueled teaching program that’ll present Apple Watch wearers with tailor-made solutions and recommendation. Apple can also be mentioned to be engaged on a extra subtle model of Siri, says one other Bloomberg report, and I hope it arrives on the watch if and when it will definitely launches.
Extra Double Faucet performance
To Double Faucet on the Apple Watch Collection 9, you faucet your index finger and thumb collectively.
Richard Peterson/CNET
Apple ought to double down on Double Faucet by including extra customization choices. The movement, which includes tapping your thumb and index finger collectively twice, at the moment allows you to scroll by means of your widgets, reply a telephone name, snooze an alarm, pause a timer and extra.
However I might like to see extra methods to personalize Double Faucet. You may resolve whether or not Double Faucet advances your widget stack or selects a widget, or whether or not it pauses music or skips to the subsequent monitor. Whereas I respect this flexibility, I want there have been different choices. For instance, you must have the ability to choose whether or not to repeat a timer as a substitute of ending it, or snooze an alarm versus dismissing it. Proper now Double Faucet merely dismisses timers and snooze alarms, with no choice to resolve to carry out the opposite motion. I want I might select, or maybe triple-tap to carry out the opposite possibility as a substitute.
Double Faucet is not meant to be a substitute for touching your watch, so its performance is understandably restricted in comparison with different gestures like tapping and swiping. If Apple does have updates in retailer for Double Faucet, you could not have to attend for a brand new Apple Watch mannequin. Apple might theoretically embrace adjustments like these in its subsequent software program replace.
An up to date design
From left: The Apple Watch Collection 9 in chrome steel and in aluminum.
Richard Peterson/CNET
The Apple Watch has acquired a couple of design tweaks through the years, but it surely’s the pricier Apple Watch Extremely that is gained extra vital bodily upgrades, like a much bigger display screen and extra sturdy construct. Although Apple should not stray too removed from the present mannequin’s look, I might wish to see some adjustments. Apple revamped the iPhone’s design for its tenth anniversary, so I might think about the corporate doing one thing particular for the tenth era Apple Watch — like maybe a brand new end or coloration.
Bloomberg studies that Apple might have some design adjustments in its pipeline for the rumored Apple Watch X. The corporate is reportedly engaged on a slimmer case and microLED screens for the Apple Watch, which might make its tiny show look extra vivid.
A brand new magnetic technique of attaching wristbands may also be in improvement for a future Apple Watch, in line with the report, although it is unclear if it could debut on the Apple Watch X. Such a change would doubtless include benefits and drawbacks for Apple Watch homeowners, nonetheless. On the upside, it might make it simpler for Apple to slim down the watch’s case, since Bloomberg’s report says the present attachment technique occupies plenty of house. However it could additionally doubtless break compatibility with the previous decade of current Apple Watch wristbands.
Design is not at all times an important ingredient in the case of tech devices. However smartwatches are the exception, contemplating they’re meant to be worn in plain view all day lengthy. It is one of many uncommon cases wherein a contemporary design could also be sufficient to persuade individuals with older watches to improve.
An Motion button on the common mannequin
The Apple Watch Extremely 2 (pictured) and Apple Watch Extremely have an Motion button.
James Martin/CNET
Ever for the reason that Apple Watch Extremely debuted in 2022, I have been awaiting the Motion button’s arrival on cheaper Apple Watch fashions. The Motion button turned out to be a useful technique to shortly launch a exercise or leap between apps, and I’ve lengthy argued that it needs to be part of the default Apple Watch expertise. Once I tried the Apple Watch Extremely in 2022, for instance, I beloved utilizing it to start out an out of doors stroll exercise with simply a few faucets. Utilizing the OnePlus Watch 2, which has a customizable shortcut button, additionally made me understand the worth of getting a devoted key for sure duties.
Now that Apple has introduced the Motion button to the iPhone 15 Professional, I am hoping it will trickle right down to different units, just like the anticipated Apple Watch X. Placing the Motion button on premium merchandise just like the Apple Watch Extremely and iPhone 15 Professional was a superb place to begin.
Since widgets play a much bigger position in how we typically navigate the Apple Watch’s interface because of WatchOS 10, there’s extra room for bodily buttons to shine in the case of particular focused circumstances, like shortcuts. And that is particularly vital on a display screen as small because the Apple Watch’s. The usual iPhone 16 fashions are additionally anticipated to get the Motion button, in line with Bloomberg and MacRumors, additional strengthening the argument that it ought to make its debut on cheaper Apple Watches, too.
The Apple Watch has come a great distance since its arrival nearly 10 years in the past. I might wish to see Apple push it to the subsequent degree by infusing extra intelligence into well being monitoring. Apple might additionally convey the Watch in control with helpful options we have seen in different merchandise, just like the Motion button. And it might embrace the machine’s roots as a trend accent with a contemporary look.
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