Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch Wearables 'Alongside' iPhone

The Apple Crystal BallSome hedge analysts might be saying that Apple is having to delay its foray into wearables (i.e. the "iWatch"), but Re/code's well-informed John Paczkowski said that Apple will unveil it "alongside" new iPhones at the September 9th media event he also broke.

In his Code/red column, Mr. Paczkowski said that Apple's plans had changed since an earlier source had placed the iWatch unveiling in October. Notably, he did not use the term "iWatch" in this particular report, referring to it instead as a "wearable."

When the September 9th media event first broke, it was quickly confirmed by The Wall Street Journal and other mainstream news outlets. Apple, however, has not publicly commented. We'll be keeping an eye out for similar confirmations on this newest development.

If Apple is announcing this device in less than a fortnight, it will be notable for the fact that we haven't seen even one leaked image of physical prototype, case, shell, screen, logic board, or other manifestations of the actual product. Various and sundry leaks about components have come from hither and yon, but no pictures or authoritative information have surfaced.

The last time this happened for a hardware product—and the first time in many, many years—was Apple's cylindrical Mac Pro. Which is being made in the U.S. by employees under Apple's direct control.

To that end, if the iWatch/wearable was being manufactured in Asia, we'd have seen it by now. Because we haven't, I suspect it is being manufactured and assembled in Apple's Arizona plant, the same plant where Apple is also producing metric crap tonnes of sapphire.

If it is unveiled in September, this will turn out to be true.