Here's your first look at the Apple Watch Series 5
Apple's wearables unit was its fastest-growing division during the company's fiscal third-quarter which covered April through June. Revenue attributed to wearables rose 48.3% year-over-year to $5.53 billion. The product that is driving such growth is the Apple Watch; the smartwatch has not only established itself as a tool for measuring a user's physical activities, it has also gained notoriety as a health-related device that will monitor a person's heart rate and heart rhythms (with the electrocardiogram feature found on the Apple Watch Series 4).
Reliable TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has already told clients to expect the Apple Watch Series 5 to be introduced during the same event that takes the wraps off of the 2019 iPhones; this is supposed to take place on September 10th. He also said that the device will look essentially the same as the current model with the edge-to-edge AMOLED display (this time produced by long-time Apple supplier Japan Display). However, animation discovered in the latest WatchOS 6 beta revealed that there will be a version of the Apple Watch Series 5 with a titanium casing and a version with a ceramic casing. The timepiece will remain available in 40mm and 44mm case sizes. Ceramic was already used on both the Series 2 and Series 3 models of the watch but was dropped for Series 4.
Today, we get our first look at the Apple Watch Series 5 through an image from a private Instagram account that was published by tipster Slashleaks. Based on the information shown on the unit's display, the device in the photo is running WatchOS 6 and carries a model number of A2157. Of course, this doesn't guarantee that the picture shows exactly what it claims to since the 2018 and 2019 models will look the same. The A2157 model number, however, was found in a filing made with the Eurasian Economic Commission along with model numbers belonging to unreleased iPhones.
WatchOS 6 will give the Apple Watch its own independent App Store
We could see the new Apple Watch support a gesture navigation system that appeared in a patent application filed by the tech giant. The illustrations included with the filing showed that by flicking their wrist, users could scroll through messages; answering a call could be as easy as making a fist. One long-awaited feature, sleep monitoring, isn't expected to be a native feature on the device until next year's model.
Photo allegedly shows the Apple Watch Series 5 which will be unveiled on September 10th
WatchOS 6 will soon be released and is expected to include an independent App Store for the Apple Watch and certain apps like the calculator, Audiobooks, Voice Memos will run directly from the device. Users will be able to see their fitness data over a longer period of time using the new "Trends" feature, battery life should show an improvement, and a number of new watch faces will be made available.
While the Apple Watch is at the vanguard of the company's health initiatives, earlier this week we pointed out that a number of key departures have reportedly left Apple's health unit without leadership and direction. There seems to be a split among members of this group as some want Apple to stop creating features that monitor the health and wellness of healthy people and start focusing on problems faced by the healthcare system today. That would include the treatments of chronic disease, medical devices, telemedicine, and health payments. However, there is no denying that other smartwatch manufacturers are trying to keep up with Apple. Samsung added an ECG scanner to the Galaxy Watch Active 2 as have other companies including Amazfit.
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