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iMore

Technology

Stephen Warwick

3 major upgrades coming to Apple Watch X

Apple Edward Snowden OpenAI

The Core

The Core cuts to the heart of the Apple news that matters to you every week. iMore's News Editor Stephen Warwick breaks down all the top stories, along with a helping of deals, tips, insight, and humor.

With WWDC 2024 in the rearview mirror, all eyes are turning to what Apple has planned for the rest of the year, notably its new fall hardware. While you might think that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro would be the headlines, the biggest story in Apple this week is actually its massive wearable overhaul, the Apple Watch X.

You might recall Apple’s huge iPhone X update, a major overhaul to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone a few years ago. The word on the street is that Apple is planning something similar for Apple Watch, possibly for release as soon as September 2024. But what would an Apple Watch overhaul mean? With its iPhone shift, Apple unveiled its stunning new Face ID technology, the end of the Home Button, and a phenomenal new chassis. Could Apple do something similar for the Watch? Here are three major upgrades rumored so far.

A massive new size

To be clear, the Apple Watch X is expected to be the Apple Watch Series 10, which means it’ll replace the Apple Watch Series 9 as the mainstream option in the lineup. While it won’t sport the rugged chassis of the Ultra, Apple is now expected to boost the size of its mainstream watch displays. That will mean size options of 49/45mm, a big jump from the current 45/41mm options, bringing the Apple Watch X in line with the screen size, if not the substance, of the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Magnetic bands

Beyond the big screen size, the most significant rumored change for Apple Watch X is reportedly a new method of connecting Apple Watch bands. The current configuration, which uses the familiar sliding mechanism, eats quite substantially into the chassis of the watch itself. This reduces the internal space for components including a larger battery. By adopting a new magnetic band, Apple is hopefully going to make some big gains internally, with much more room for components. The downside? It’s likely all your existing bands won’t work with this new Apple Watch X.

Larger battery

This final expected upgrade is an educated guess based on the previous two leaks. If Apple is indeed pushing the Apple Watch X up to a 45/49mm chassis, and revising its band attachment tech to free up internal space, a larger battery inside seems like a nailed-on consequence. Even without the space-saving bands, the larger chassis size might yield battery life much closer to that of the potent Apple Watch Ultra 2, which is good for 36 hours of use on paper. With Apple’s emphasis in watchOS 11 firmly set on health upgrades, battery life on a device you wear 24 hours a day is more important than ever. All of the monitoring of your exercise, heart rate, vitals, sleep, cycle tracking, and more means that the Apple Watch is more indispensable as a health companion than ever before, which means you want to take it off for charging as little as possible. To that end, a bigger battery life could be the most welcome upgrade to Apple Watch X.

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