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Apple Watch Series 4 Rumor: New Watch To Sport Bigger Screen, Brilliant Design

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When Ming-Chi Kuo left KGI Securities to join TF International Securities, many feared the intensely accurate leaks relating to Apple products might dry up. Not a bit of it.

Today, in a note reported by 9to5Mac, he has detailed the what and when of all Apple’s products for the rest of 2018, including new iPhones (three of them), new iPads with Face ID and a new Apple Watch.

Here are his predictions for Apple Watch Series 4.

Apple

New design

Back in March, the analyst predicted that the next Apple Watch, presumably to be called Series 4, will be the first Watch to have a design strikingly different from all the Watches that have preceded it.

This isn’t entirely surprising, seeing as how the first Watch was announced almost four years ago, and though there are no explicit details of what the new design will look like, I’m going to stick my neck out and say I think it will still be a familiar rectangle with rounded corners.

It’s the quintessential Apple style and it’s best for reading text such as emails or notifications – a circular display has too many compromises for easy use, I think.

David Phelan

Bigger display

Kuo is sticking to his expectation, expressed back in March, that the display on Apple Watch Series 4 will be 15% bigger than on current models. This sounds good, though if you’re worried this means a mega-sized timepiece that will weigh down your wrist, think again. It seems likely that the display will stretch to the edges of a new Watch, so though it’s much bigger, narrower bezels around it should mean the Watch itself is about the same size as now.

Edge-to-edge display worked well on the iPhone X, so there is precedent here. And I personally don't believe Apple wants to go bigger.

Apple

Oh, and it should mean that the current Watch Bands will still work on Series 4, just as today.

Battery life

This is going to get better, perhaps indicating a different Watch size. Again, I don’t think it will be strikingly different. The thickness of the Watch is the only measurement that has changed since day one, so it’s possible a slightly thicker Watch will contain any battery modification.

I believe Apple will follow its path of adding features and capabilities to any future Watch and maintaining current battery life, rather than seeking to deliver three- or four-day battery life in the way that Samsung has.

Mind you, I’m still eager for sleep tracking to be a bigger thing on the Apple Watch…

David Phelan

Sensors

Kuo said that there would be more sensors built in, to add extra functionality, especially in terms for health monitoring. That chimes with other rumors, such as the idea that the Digital Crown will have a heart rate monitor in it so that you can add extra accuracy to heartbeat tracking.

David Phelan

Price and Release Date

There’s no exact price suggested but my guess is that there will be Apple Watches at roughly the same prices as now, perhaps a lower-price entry-level model or a Series 3 at a lower price. A bigger display could command a higher price, of course.

Kuo has previously said he expects the Watch to go on sale in the second half of 2018. I mean, that's hard to dispute now, since there are only a few days left in the first half of the year!

More specifically, my guess is that like last year and year before, the next Apple Watch will be announced in early to mid-September, going on sale a week or two later.

More details will become clearer as the months pass, and as Kuo updates his predictions.

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