On “Tuesday, Apple is expected to unveil its largest array of new product introductions ever, ranging from iPhone 8—and a premium new iPhone X — to a new 4K/HDR Apple TV, new Apple Watch Series 3, revamped AirPods and the company’s new HomePod appliance — as well as its new Apple Park campus,” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for AppleInsider.
“If you hadn’t read AppleInsider discussing the future of Apple Watch last summer, you might have missed our report on upcoming eSIM technology which promised to ‘enable ultramobile devices like Apple Watch to connect to the user’s same mobile account, allowing them to take calls directly over the mobile network,'” Dilger writes. “Now that this has been essentially confirmed, both in leaks of iOS 11 detailing an LTE-equipped Series 3 Apple Watch and in a leak by the MyVerizon app [full article] offering to configure cellular service for ‘Apple Watch Series 3,’ we can breathe easy that the obvious next step for Apple Watch is indeed on the way.”
“There’s a lot we still don’t know about the upcoming Apple Watch Series 3, but it appears clear that it remains tethered to iPhone, even if it gains the ability to make calls on its own using your existing cellular number,” Dilger writes. “Apple Watch lacks a large enough display to handle loading apps and other configuration. You’ll still use iOS to do those tasks, as Apple Watch is to iPhone what iPod was to the Mac a decade ago. So much for the bizarre, poorly thought out media narrative that Apple is trying to kill the iPhone and replace it with a wearable before anyone else can.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yup. As we wrote over a year ago.
The people most obsessed with an Apple Watch that’s fully independent of iPhone do not own an Apple Watch.
Apple Watch will get the ability to connect to cellular networks eventually – and that’ll be useful for when you’re out on a run with just your GPS-capable Apple Watch and you need to make a quick phone call or text a brief message, but Apple Watch’s display is just too small to be relied upon all by its lonesome most of the time. You’ll want to pull out your iPhone when encountering longer text, viewing photos and videos, etc. — MacDailyNews, August 26, 2016
What about safety: it’s accepted that these cellular devices should not be touching your skin when using them. Pretty much all of the iPhones to date have warnings about this and are only tested and certified being held a certain distance away from the body.
This will end up getting media attention. So far this has gone under the radar as many are just excited to have an LTE watch.
Great point/question. Who knows?