After another year of extremely minimal upgrades to the Apple Watch, all eyes are on next year’s 10th anniversary for the first major redesign. And a new rumor adds further evidence that another is coming.
According to Kosutami is X (formerly Twitter), the next generation of the Apple Watch features “completely redesigned” strap connectors. They claim that reports that the old bands won’t work with the new model are “100% accurate.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously reported that the 2024 Apple Watch would have a new magnetic band connector and a thinner design that would be incompatible with older bands.
Apple has supported bands dating back to the original Apple Watch: 41mm watches work with 40mm and 38mm bands, and 45mm watches can use 42mm, 44mm, and 49mm. So it would be understandable to change them now, although it is still a big problem. Apple will likely sell many existing bands in the new format and will also sell older bands for at least a year or two.
Kosutami says Apple is changing the bands because “the current connectors take up a lot of space,” which seems to indicate that a redesign is also in the works. In his recent 2024 preview, Gurman claimed that Apple is “planning at least one model with a new look” after previously detailing the changes coming to the Series X. So it certainly looks like 2024 will finally bring a truly new Apple Watch .
