A “major overhaul” of the Apple Watch design should arrive next year with a new bracelet connection system, according to a known Weibo leaker.
In a series of recent posts, the leaker known as “Instant Digital” linked the new claim to older rumors about an “Apple Watch X” model, which introduced a new design and broke compatibility with the existing watch strap system. Citing an August 2023 article, the leaker reiterated that the way the strap attaches to the case would change, creating internal space for a larger battery. The leaker then advised anyone planning to buy a new Apple Watch in 2027 not to buy additional bands in the meantime, given that a redesigned case could ditch the current attachment system.
The “Apple Watch X” rumor dates back to a 2023 report from BloombergMark Gurman, who said Apple is planning the “biggest redesign yet” for the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, with a new magnetic band attachment system, a thinner case and a microLED display. None of this came to fruition, and Apple instead released the Apple Watch Series 10, keeping the existing strap system intact with a design that, while somewhat tweaked, hardly amounted to a major overhaul. It now appears that this redesign could have simply been delayed, rather than scrapped altogether.
The timing fits with how Apple has historically refreshed the design of the standard Apple Watch. The original Apple Watch through Series 3 shared one design, Series 4 through Series 6 shared another, and Series 7 through Series 9 shared a third. The current design arrived with the Apple Watch Series 10. After this period of approximately three years, a new design is expected to arrive with the Apple Watch Series 13 in 2027, matching the timeline outlined by Instant Digital.
The leaker previously said the redesign wouldn’t appear until 2028, the year after the 20th anniversary iPhone launches. Last year, DigiTimes said that at least one future high-end Apple Watch model would get a “significant redesign,” including exterior changes such as eight sensors arranged in a ring on the underside of the device, linked to broader health-sensing ambitions. Earlier this month, Apple was reportedly evaluating next-generation OLED backplane technology for the 2027 Apple Watch.
This year’s Apple Watch Series 12 is not expected to feature a new design, continuing to use the same one introduced with the Series 10 in 2024, which introduced a thinner case, a larger screen, and a metal back that folds the antenna into the case.
