Refresh
Apple Watch Pro: Bigger and better?
The Apple Watch Pro, otherwise known as the Apple Watch Rugged Edition, has been heavily rumored to arrive with the Apple Watch 8 for a while now, and it’s set to be a watch geared more heavily towards athletes.
Aiming to eat into Garmin and Polar’s territory, the Apple Watch Pro looks set to follow the same design ethos as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which had on-wrist GPS directions, a trackback feature to help you return to the starting point of your route, improved battery for weekend warriors and raised bezels to protect the screen.
The Apple Watch Pro will be more expensive than the Apple Watch 8, although by how much we simply don’t know yet. A MacRumors leak showcasing a new accessory case hints at a redesigned chassis with a more protruding crown and buttons.
Much like Fitbit added the tactile button back to the Versa 4 and Sense 2, bigger buttons are easier to operate in the midst of a tough workout, and larger screen real estate (maybe up to 50mm, as previously mentioned) is better for showing off route maps. Japanese website Mac Otakara, on the other hand, claims it’ll be a still-impressive 47mm.
The Apple Watch 8 looks set to be the best yet if leaks and rumors are to be believed and is likely to set you back around $399 / £369 / AU$599.
If the Apple Watch 8 is coming with both a cheaper SE and more expensive Pro, it’s unlikely there will be drastic changes this go-round. Rumors have said we could see screens as large as 50mm and significant battery improvements, but if a Pro is on the horizon, such sweeping changes will probably be reserved for that premium model.
Instead, we’re looking at a more iterative upgrade, with innards consisting of a small bump from the S7 to S8 processor, similar screen sizes to the Apple Watch 7, the usual choice of cellular and wi-fi models, and an array of colorways that are apparently unlikely to match the iPhone 14 ones, according to MacRumors (opens in new tab).
What it might have, that intrigues me, is a new skin temperature sensor added to its existing array. Other brands like Fitbit already use one of these, which is incredibly useful for detecting changes in stress levels and improving the accuracy of sleep tracking. However, while it might indicate whether you’re suffering from a fever, it’s not good enough to be medically accurate as it’s got no way to check your internal core temperature.
I really want to see how Apple markets this new sensor; whether it’ll be used to further refine and improve sleep tracking, or a more medical, illness-related use is touted. The one problem there is getting approval from governing bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, a fiendishly difficult process.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also claimed that the Apple Watch 8 will have “major updates to activity tracking” and a faster chipset.
