Does Apple Watch Series 3 need a major overhaul? [Friday Night Fights]

The next-generation Apple Watch will be another incremental upgrade focused on performance and battery life improvements, according to recent rumors. But almost three years after the original model made its debut, should we be expecting more?

Many Apple Watch fans have been hoping for a slimmer form factor, while earlier rumors promised features like cellular connectivity and even a FaceTime camera. Would you buy another Apple Watch that looks the same but lasts longer in between charges?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether Apple Watch Series 3 needs a major overhaul.

Luke Dormehl: We recently heard the rumors about a new Apple Watch, set to arrive in the fall of 2017 — and while I realize it’s never good to judge things solely based on a rumor, it does sound a bit disappointing. You and I have talked previously about the fact that Apple feels like it’s dropped behind in the innovation game in the last couple of years: favoring slow, iterative improvements on its products, rather than the kind of “tear it up and start again” mentality that made it such an exciting company in the late 1990s and 2000s.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is supposed to feature better battery life and performance upgrades. That’s all well and good as an iterative upgrade, but I don’t think it’s something that’s going to get skeptics interested in the device if they aren’t already. I always kept an open mind about the Apple Watch: slightly doubtful about the smartwatch form factor, but hoping that Apple had cracked the formula and could show me something I’d not thought about previously.

There are, of course, the usual caveats here: a disappointing seller for Apple is a great seller by any other company’s standards, maybe Apple doesn’t expect customers to upgrade every year, yada yada yada. But if we’re entering into the third generation of Apple Watch, I feel like there should be some unique vision for what this device does that’s different from Apple’s other products — and it sure doesn’t feel that way.

At this rate, it’s basically settling into being an Apple TV level of device; essentially a “nice to have” that will appeal to a select few customers, but which isn’t a priority for Apple. Maybe that’s enough, but considering that a lot was riding on the Apple Watch (not least proving that it can still launch a new category of device people will get excited about) it doesn’t sound like the company is any closer to cracking the formula than it was when the first Apple Watch came out.

Killian Bell: I certainly understand some of your concerns here. Apple made significant performance and battery life improvements with Apple Watch Series 2, and I think further improving upon these things for the third-generation model is kind of pointless.

Granted, battery life improvements are always welcome, and the longer I can wear my Apple Watch before I have to charge it up again, the better. But how fast does Apple Watch really need to be? It works great now, but there’s only so much we’re going to want to do with apps built for a tiny device we wear on our wrists.

I would certainly prefer it if Apple focused its efforts on integrating things like 4G connectivity, and making Apple Watch much slimmer. I’m not really interested in a FaceTime camera, but that’s another upgrade I know a lot of users are crying out for.

But Apple has to find the right balance.

Right now, Apple Watch is probably the best it can be with the technology Apple has at its disposal. If the company was to add additional features — like those mentioned above — it has to make room for more components, and that means making Apple Watch thicker (no one wants that).

Alternatively, it has to reduce the size of other internals. Now, it’s probably safe to assume most of those internals are already as small as they can be for now. The only thing Apple could shrink with ease is Apple Watch’s battery (and no one wants that, either).

So, it seems Apple is stuck between a rock and a hard place. There’s only so much it can do with Apple Watch right now, and while its existing design might be getting a little old, Apple isn’t going to change it just for the sake of change. Apple doesn’t overhaul its hardware unless there’s good reason for it.

With the exception of the iPhone, which has traditionally received a new design every two years, Apple’s products typically carry the same look for several years. The iPad Air series (and now the 9.7-inch iPad Pro) has looked the same for over three years. The iMac hasn’t changed in over four. Apple doesn’t invest in new designs unless there’s good reason for it.

Luke: But wait, aren’t you arguing that it wouldn’t be disappointing if this turns out to be the next Apple Watch? In terms of changing the Apple Watch by, say, making it round or thinner is a very subjective discussion, but features like making it iPhone independent — or having a proper use-case for it should be things we should have by the time a third-generation product ships.

Personally, I think the Apple Watch was the wrong direction for Apple to go in altogether. For me, the best case scenario for it is that it winds up being what the Newton MessagePad was: an ahead-of-its-time product which paved the way for a genuinely great product Apple shipped 15 years later. It certainly doesn’t seem like Apple has a whole lot of vision for what this can be, besides a shrunk-down iPhone for your wrist.

Judging by the bored reaction from watchOS developers, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s struck much of a chord with them, either, as far as compelling use cases go. The Watch feels more and more like a market Apple felt it had to try and compete in, rather than one it wanted to compete in. Yes, I don’t doubt that Jony Ive likes the idea of entering the luxury goods watch market, but for your average customer, I don’t think this has been an exciting product.

If the reports of shrinking customer interest in smartwatches are accurate, then I don’t think this rumored Apple Watch Series 3 is likely to change people’s minds. Do you?

Killian: I’m not saying I won’t be a little disappointed, but I think it’s unrealistic to expect major changes just yet. Like I said, adding new components means making sacrifices — like cutting battery life — and we know Apple isn’t going to make them just to add a new feature to a product sheet.

I don’t believe the features you’ve mentioned are things we should have by the time Apple Watch Series 3 arrives. We’re not entitled to anything, and no one is forcing us to upgrade to the next model. Like I said, there’s only so much Apple can do with the technology available.

I don’t agree Apple Watch was the wrong direction to go in, either. I think Apple needed to have a presence in the smartwatch market. When Android Wear first debuted, consumers suddenly became excited about wearables, and I know several people who swapped their iPhone for an Android device just so that they could own a smartwatch. I certainly don’t think a large percentage of people were doing that, but still, Apple needed to compete.

I do agree, however, that Apple probably doesn’t know what to do with Apple Watch just yet — and that’s because no one knows what to do with smartwatches right now. None of them have changed significantly in recent years, and they’re still devices that are nice to have, but aren’t necessary. Apple is doing more than most, though — especially when it comes to health and fitness.

Maybe smartwatches will never become a necessity, but that doesn’t mean Apple should stop making them. Apple Watch seems to be selling very well — no other smartwatch comes close — and although you claim developers are bored, there’s an incredibly large catalog of excellent watchOS apps that’s growing every day. So they’re still supporting it.

If Apple was to give up on Apple Watch just because it’s not quite sure what to do with it yet, surely it should also give up on iPad, iPod, Mac mini, and Apple TV? None of these things have changed significantly in recent years; they’re just getting incremental upgrades to keep sales ticking over while Apple thinks up something revolutionary.

Luke: The trouble with what you’re saying is that the whole point of Apple being the size that it is is that it doesn’t, or shouldn’t, need to compete in a market just because other people are doing so. Others have been making VR headsets for a while now, and Apple’s yet to come out with its own version of Oculus Rift. Increasingly the watch feels, for Tim Cook, what the Newton was for John Sculley: a device to try and prove can follow what Steve Jobs did and prove that Apple’s still innovative.

The difference is that the Newton turned out to be way ahead of what the competition was doing, while the Apple Watch is keeping pace with an ailing product category. I really want to like the Apple Watch. As smart homes mature, who knows, maybe this will become the perfect control mechanism by which we control our devices. Maybe Apple will eventually get it classified as a medical device and come up with smart sensors which could make this a useful diagnostic tool, subsidized by more insurance companies.

But right now it’s none of those things — and the best defense I’ve ever had is from people like yourself who effectively argue “well, it wasn’t meant to be all that great.” But maybe I’m wrong. So let’s turn it over to readers.

Are you excited about the new Apple Watch? What would get you to buy an Apple Watch Series 3? Leave your comments below — and have a great weekend.

Friday Night Fights is a series of weekly death matches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

Killian Bell

Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.