The Apple Watch Series 10 could be in trouble

The Apple Watch Series 10 continues to be the subject of rumors and leaks in the run-up to the device’s 10th anniversary, but the latest news may not be the best. According to Mark Gurman, the Apple Watch Series 10 will come with significant improvements, including a larger display and a new chip, and there could also be a special anniversary edition, possibly called the Apple Watch X. So far, so good, right?

Unfortunately, Gurman also says in his Power On newsletter that the Apple Watch Series 10 is unlikely to receive any design changes from the Series 9, meaning another year of an identical smartwatch. Additionally, there are also indications that the new health features users have been hoping for will not make their way to the Series 10.

As Gurman says in his Bloomberg report, the Apple Watch Series 10 “probably won’t look much different” than the Apple Watch Series 9, although it is expected to be thinner. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 also probably won’t get a new design this year.

As far as we know, the next Apple Watch is still slated to come in two case sizes, codenamed “N217” and “N218.” Both will have larger displays. One of these models is expected to have a screen roughly the same size as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Both models are also slated to come with a new processor that is said to be better than the S9 chip and may bring some AI improvements to the device, although full integration of Apple Intelligence doesn’t seem to be in the cards at the moment.

The bigger downside to the recent news concerns the apparent lack of new health tracking features expected for the Apple Watch Series 10. Apple’s efforts to develop sleep apnea and high blood pressure detection features have not gone smoothly. There were hopes that the features would be ready for 2024, but according to Gurman, “Apple has run into some serious obstacles.” The high blood pressure detection feature did not prove reliable in testing, so it has been delayed until next year.

With sleep apnea detection, the problem is not so much the feature itself, but the fact that it is based on blood oxygen saturation, which Apple Watches are not allowed to measure in the US due to a legal dispute with Masimo. If the legal dispute is resolved by September, the sleep apnea feature could still come to the Series 10. Otherwise, Apple will have to find a legal argument that the blood oxygen sensor can be used for purposes unrelated to detecting blood oxygen saturation. Under these circumstances, this feature will also likely be delayed until 2025.