The Apple Watch will see a revamp in the coming years, as Apple is reportedly in the middle of a shake up its wearables formula to meet an ever-changing market.
The Apple Watch has retained the same core design of a square display on a watch band, but it has evolved over time. While it has become thinner, larger, and more rugged in the Apple Watch Ultra, it can potentially do more.
In Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that the Apple Watch is ready to get overhauled into something new. The company's industrial design team has been rethinking smartwatches in general over the last year, and it's considering new directions to go in.
The team hasn't quite decided what to actually do with the Apple Watch yet, but it is mulling the problem over.
These changes apparently include switching the square display for a circular version of various sizes. There's also the possibility of removing the display altogether, to match the growing market for wearables without screens.
Smart rings are also seeing a rise in adoption, which gives Apple another wearable avenue to explore. It has repeatedly filed patents in the field, but an Apple Ring release continues to elude the company.
Sooner changes
Whatever new direction the Apple Watch takes, it won't be anytime soon. The expected Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 will be largely performance-based updates.
Health and fitness changes are said to be included. Despite previous rumors, there are no major design changes in 2026 for the main Apple Watch body.
There is, however, a rumor that Apple will be introducing a new band attachment method for the 2026 model. If correct, it's a change that will probably make earlier Apple Watch bands incompatible with the new model.
That said, it's a rumor that we have heard on and off since 2022. It may happen, but it could be better suited as part of a larger overhaul.
