On Wednesday, Apple is expected to unveil the “Apple Watch Pro,” a new high-end, ruggedized, larger Apple Watch that will take aim at Garmin, the current market-share leader for smartwatches that cost $500 and up.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The most significant new product coming will be the company’s first Apple Watch Pro. It’s designed to go straight after Garmin Ltd.’s high-end, rugged watches — a lineup aimed at heavy-duty athletes like mountain bikers, hikers and marathon runners.
While Apple held about 36% of the smartwatch market in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, here’s a statistic you may find surprising: Even though Apple is known for premium prices, Garmin is the market-share leader for models that cost $500 and up. With the Apple Watch Pro, that could change.
The new high-end Apple Watch will have a noticeably larger display, so users can view redesigned watch faces and more fitness and health-tracking statistics at the same time. It will also have a larger battery, along with a low-power mode, and a rugged titanium casing. Moreover, it features an all-new design that revamps a form factor first introduced with the Series 4 in 2018.
Given the new capabilities, I expect this watch to come in at least $900 to $1,000, topping the current Apple Watch Edition. For comparison, Garmin’s high-end watches cost between $1,000 and $1,500.
MacDailyNews Take: Garmin’s lead in the premium smartwatch market begins to rapidly evaporate tomorrow!
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” Garmin is the market-share leader for models that cost $500 and up. With the Apple Watch Pro, that could change.” Dang, this is low-hanging fruit for Apple.
Make mine in Fall Camouflage designs for deer hunting, please…
Hoping for Liquidmetal rather than titanium. Also hoping for satellite connection.
This must have satellite GPS capabilities. If the new iPhone can somehow work GPS with this watch, boom, a hit. By Garmin in reach mini and Zollo.
Finally, Apple added dual band GPS, but sadly only on the new hard core Watch. It should have been included in the iPhone and iPad but hasn’t. Apple apparently doesn’t care about GPS in difficult environments like urban or rural areas where satellite signals are weak or unreliable. Damn.