Apple Watch 7 specs and features tipped: new display and processor, no blood sugar monitor
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While Apple already released the watchOS 8 developer beta with great additions to the home and always-on displays, as well as numerous other new features, the rumored blood glucose monitoring function was nowhere to be heard.
That's because the sugar detection sensor is unlikely to be ready for this year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today, and is actually being postponed for beyond 2022 even, just like Samsung reportedly dropped the feature from its own watches for now.
In addition, a potential temperature-measuring sensor will make it in the Watch 8 at the earliest, not the Apple Watch 7 as previously expected, claims the source. Here's the scoop.
Apple Watch Series 7 specs and features
What Mr Gurman learned from his sources about the upcoming Apple Watch Series 7 should be enough to make you upgrade, judging from the list of expected new Watch 7 features:
- Faster, S7 processor
- Better wireless connectivity with ultra-wideband update
- New display with thinner bezels and cover
- Slightly thicker body
While a move from the Apple S6 wearable processor to a new S7 generation which would, undoubtedly, be faster and with better connectivity options, could be expected, the new display option is a bit more surprising. Still, it jibes with what we've heard before about a subtle Watch 7 redesign with flat sides and a new, green color option.
Apple will reportedly use a new display lamination production technique in order to achieve a thinner cover on top of the actual display, bringing it closer to the surface and thus increasing its brightness and visibility further.
This should bode well for using the Apple Watch Series 7 outside, while the design team from Cupertino has managed to trim the bezels around the new screen even further just as previously tipped by Jon Prosser's sources as a potential redesign point for the new Apple Watch.
Surprisingly, the source tips that the Watch 7 will be a tad thicker than the Watch 6 model, which, considering the thinner display lamination and the lack of new sensors, could mean that Apple will finally find place for a bigger battery.
Short battery life is perhaps the biggest complaint about Apple's timepieces from their owners, especially those who come from more basic smartwatches that can last more than a week, so if Apple manages to address that in the Watch Series 7, a true sales boom may be in store.
Apple Watch Series 8 and Watch Explorer/Adventure Edition release
So, faster performance, better wireless connectivity, including the ultra-wideband tech that is used by Apple AirTags for finding them, and brighter, more elegant display - smells like an evolutionary refresh more than anything else. The Watch Series 7 would be for Watch 5 owners to upgrade, though, rather than move from the Watch 6 you just bought.
For those, Mark Gurman tips that there will be big upgrades next year, too - the Apple Watch Series 8, and the second edition of the lowly Apple Watch SE model. The Watch 8 may see the inclusion of the new kind on Apple's sensor block - a body temperature monitor - that was supposed to make it in time for the Covid-19 health crisis duration, but has apparently been pushed off for 2022.
The temperature sensor is also a prime candidate for the purported Apple Watch Explorer/Adventure Edition which will most likely be released next year, as Apple didn't manage to fit it in its 2021 wearable plans, be it for the chip shortage, or continuing design/features iteration. The toughie will then go straight against other rugged and durable smartwatches from competing companies for which Garmin has already proven that there exists a huge market niche.
Apple's gadgets are symbolic with elegance and understatement, though, so it will be very peculiar to watch it release a rugged Watch. Such models are usually surrounded with bumpers, grooves and are thick as thieves, so we can't wait to see how the team from Cupertino has solved the oxymoron called a rugged Apple Watch Explorer Edition.
Unfortunately, that one won't be getting a blood sugar monitoring sensor, either, as that feature may take as long to develop as Apple developed the ECG function for its Watch wearable, and that one took several years of perfecting algorithms together with health industry stalwarts like the Mayo Clinic. Oh, well, the faster Watch Series 7 and the temperature-taking Watch 8 should suffice to tide us over till then. What do you think about the rumored new Apple Watch Series 7 features and upgrades, refresh or revolution?
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