Overview
- Sunday reporting based on Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple’s industrial design team has been evaluating radically different Apple Watch concepts, including circular displays, multiple screen sizes, and wrist devices with no screens.
- The company has not made final decisions and does not plan to ship a sweeping redesign soon, with any major changes likely years away while incremental models arrive first.
- Apple will still ship iterative 2026 updates, expected to include the Series 12 and Ultra 4 this fall with new processors and fitness improvements rather than new forms.
- The reassessment is driven by slower growth in Apple’s wearables business and rising competition from screenless devices and smart rings such as Oura and Whoop, which appeal for their lighter, simpler designs.
- Apple plans to make wearables more AI‑centric and to pursue a long‑term overhaul of the Health app, and executives including Eddy Cue are said to be coordinating those multi‑year health and AI efforts.