The Apple Watch Series 10 may get an Ultra screen

Here’s some potentially good news for Apple Watch owners jealous of the Apple Watch Ultra’s screen: The Apple Watch Series 10 could have the same screen as the company’s 49mm outdoor watch, along with other potential improvements, like a thinner case and a new chip that, according to Mark Gurman’s latest report, “could lay the groundwork for some AI improvements in the future.” A Newsletter for Bloomberg.

The screen rumor seems to confirm a CAD render from last month that showed a Series 10 watch with a two-inch display. Gurman says — and this rendering seems to show it — that the watch will otherwise feature no major design changes. If that means there are no magnetic watch band attachments or anything like that, then I file that part of the rumor in the “good” column — like many others, I’ve accumulated a number of watch bands over the years and want to continue using those if I decide to upgrade.

As for new sensors, the situation is more unclear, with Gurman saying Apple is having problems with two major health sensor updates the company has planned. The company has reportedly been unable to get the reliability of its rumored blood pressure monitor up to par, and he writes that the inability to use its banned blood oxygen sensor is hampering its efforts to add sleep apnea detection.

Apple is reportedly planning a cheaper version of the Apple Watch SE to bring the price in line with Samsung’s $199 Galaxy Watch FE. One way to do this is apparently to have a rigid plastic body. This could certainly make the watch cheaper and perhaps lighter too – I can think of at least one other Apple product that could benefit from a similar decision! (The Vision Pro. I’m talking about the Vision Pro.)

Finally, Gurman says the company plans to release a Watch Ultra 3, but don’t expect any major visual changes. However, it will reportedly get the new chip that will power the Series 10.