Apple Watch to get GPS, Barometer in Fall Update

Apple Watch new

Apple reportedly has plans to introduce new Apple Watch models this fall with a GPS and barometer. The new features will be packed into a design that looks essentially the same as the original Apple Watch to accommodate a larger battery.

Apple Watch new
Apple Watch to get a refresh this fall with GPS and barometer

Along with a GPS and barometer, the new Apple Watch will sport a faster processor built by TSMC, a thinner display, and improved waterproofing, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He also said the new models will come with the same 38mm and 42mm screen sizes as the current Apple Watch.

The first generation Apple Watch will get improved waterproofing and a faster processer this fall, along with a price cut. The GPS and barometer will be second generation-only features.

Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction comes from speaking with his supply chain sources.

He doesn’t expect to see LTE wireless data support on the Apple Watch until 2017, and health-related features requiring FDA approval won’t be coming until some time between 2018 and 2020.

Apple’s Busy Fall

Apple Watch isn’t the only product Apple is expected to roll out this fall. iOS 10, watchOS 3, and macOS Sierra are are all coming soon, and iPhone 7 is expected in early September. Odds are the new iPhone models and operating system upgrades will hit at about the same time.

The new iPhone models are said to drop the 3.5mm headphone jack and carry audio over the lightning port instead. Reports also say the iPhone 7 will get improved cameras, redesigned antennas, a solid state home button, and faster processors.

Apple hasn’t hinted at new watch models yet, but with the current model about a year and a half old, many are hoping for a refresh soon. While a September refresh would be nice, we haven’t seen any leaked parts yet—something that typically happens in the weeks leading up to a product launch. We’re seeing plenty for the iPhone, but nothing for the Apple Watch.

Assuming we are getting new Apple Watch models soon we’ll most likely hear about them during September’s iPhone 7 launch event, so we have to wait only a few weeks to see if Ming-Chi Kuo is right.

[Thanks to Mac Rumors for the heads up]

8 thoughts on “Apple Watch to get GPS, Barometer in Fall Update

  • An Apple wearable heart reader may be its next big thing
    by Katie Collins (@katiecollins) CNETMobile | Wearable Tech – August 11, 2016

    “Apple may be heading even further into the medical field. A patent application published Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office shows that Apple wants to lock down ownership on a new wearable health device that could be fashioned into different accessories. It could, for example, be a watch, a ring, a brooch or something else entirely.. The wearable, capable of performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure the heart’s rhythm, could allow Apple to tap into the $148 billion US market for medical devices. It would serve as a logical progression from the Apple Watch. A patent application shows a ring-shaped device that can test your heart’s rhythm… The device could be worn either on the wrist, or another part of the body…

    …Usually, ECG readings differ depending on the distance of the device from the heart, but the device that Apple wants to patent describes a calibration process that means it can calculate accurate readings no matter where the device is on the body.

  • What health-related features?
    – especially, galvanic skin response (e.g., vestigial EKG, or perhaps sufficient vestigial EEG wave patterns to differentiate between different levels of sleep).
    – Rudimentary hemoglobin 02 saturation might have some interesting applications

  • I do increasingly love & rely upon throughout each day my Apple Watch, as I keep discovering more great uses for it in my life.

    But allthough I would very much like the promised GPS & barometer features of this fall’s 2nd generation Apple Watch, I would much rather save my money to get the features promised for the 2018 Apple Watch: especially the “health-related features requiring FDA approval” (as well as those improvements from the previous year, i.e., “LTE wireless data support”).

    If I did not already have an Apple Watch & if felt I couldn’t wait any longer than this fall for one, I would (by that same token) instead only buy this fall’s revised & cheaper first generation Apple Watch (with its “improved waterproofing & a faster processer”), because I’m sure I would be much more than satisfied with its features, until the features promised only for the 2018 model at last become available – I can’t see how it would be worth the extra money to me to get any of the listed added features of any of the intermediate models between my Apple Watch & the 2018 model’s.

  • Ron, my wife gave me the  Watch for Christmas, the year before was a new Retina Display iMac. The elastomer watch band is surprisingly comfortable, but I think that the milanese loop would be better in letting the skin breath and have more optimal adjustment. And yeah, I now have a tan line on my wrist. 😀

  • Lee, for whatever reason, this time around I decided to hold off on Gen 1 of the Watch. Actually, a big reason was the VERY expensive iMac update I did last year (the full TB built-in flash storage would have paid for SEVERAL Watches!!). But I’ve been saving up my Apple gift cards and will be ready to get one for myself as an early Christmas present!!

    BTW, no regrets on the iMac update – it is screaming fast and I just love it. Still using my mid-2007 iMac as well!! Not screaming fast at all, but functional, and even running El Capitan.

  • Ron, I have an Apple Watch 1 and just love it, but I plan to upgrade to the new one. I will give my existing one to a family member.

    I thought that the barometer was already in the Watch, but not enabled to the apps.

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