Apple’s smartwatches will look the same for at least another year, or two

For the last few years, every single Apple Watch has looked identical to the last. The Apple Watch Series 11 shared its dimensions and looks with the Watch 10, and the Watch 10 with the Watch 9. Turns out that streak might not break in 2026 either.

So what’s actually changing this year?

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is deep into late-stage testing of three new Watch models arriving this fall: a Wi-Fi-only and cellular Series 12, internally tagged N237 and N238, plus an Ultra 4 codenamed N240.

Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

None of them are getting a design overhaul, though. So if you were hoping for a fresh silhouette, you might have to wait for another year. We might not get a new Apple Watch SE this year. That makes sense, given the SE 3 only just got a major refresh last year and Apple usually leaves a longer gap between SE generations anyway.

A real design rethink is reportedly still one to two years out. Apple’s long-rumored blood-sugar detection feature, a project tracing back to the Steve Jobs era, isn’t expected until later this decade either.

Why has Apple Watch felt so stagnant, and what’s coming next?

Instead, Apple’s pouring its energy into what’s under the hood, along with sharper health and fitness tracking, and a chip upgrade Gurman calls genuinely “long-awaited.”

Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

That phrasing matters more than it sounds. Apple Watch performance has technically been frozen since 2023’s S9 chip, even though Apple has shipped “new” processors in every generation since.

This year’s lineup, in other words, is a refinement pass, not a reinvention. Apple’s caution here stands out against how aggressively it’s chasing smart glasses and camera-equipped AirPods elsewhere.

The Watch, once its most experimental wearable, has settled into a strikingly conservative rhythm, prioritizing incremental health tweaks over the redesign risks Apple’s taking everywhere else in its lineup right now.

For more than five years, Shikhar has consistently simplified developments in the field of consumer tech and presented them…

Google could soon let you unlock your Pixel Watch with your phone

An in-development feature could flip the current Watch Unlock feature, letting an authenticated phone unlock the watch automatically.

If you’ve set up a PIN on your Pixel Watch, you already know the prompt that shows up every time you slip it back on your wrist. It’s a useful security measure, but entering a PIN on that small screen multiple times a day gets old fast. A new report suggests Google may be working on a way to let you skip it.

Watch Unlock in reverse

A new iPhone app can sniff out Meta smart glasses lurking nearby

Your iPhone can now keep an eye on the glasses keeping an eye on you

Android users got an unusual privacy tool earlier this year that could alert them when smart glasses were nearby. Five months later, iPhone owners finally have something similar, and its name makes its feelings about Meta pretty obvious.

AntiZuck is a $2.99 iPhone app that scans for Bluetooth signals associated with smart glasses and alerts you when it thinks one is close. It supports devices including Meta Ray-Bans, Snap Spectacles, Amazon Echo Frames, and RayNeo glasses, while the developer says additional hardware is being added.

Apple’s smart glasses are running late because they don’t want to stir a privacy storm

Apple is taking extra time to make sure its smart glasses do not inherit Meta’s creepy reputation

Apple could unveil its first smart glasses at WWDC in June 2027, followed by a consumer release toward the end of the year, according to Bloomberg. The device, internally codenamed N50, had reportedly been scheduled for an introduction in late 2026 and a launch in early 2027.

Part of the delay reportedly stems from Apple’s engineering and marketing teams spending more time refining the product and deciding how to address the privacy concerns that come with putting cameras on someone’s face. Privacy is said to be the top priority for the teams working on the glasses.