Apple is rumored to introduce a new display technology for this year’s Apple Watch, the low-temperature polycrystalline oxide thin-film transistor, which could potentially increase battery life. Currently, only part of the Watch’s display tech uses LTPO, while the rest utilizes low-temperature polycrystalline silicon. The new display technology could lead to longer battery life, as oxide is used to reduce leakage current in LTPO OLED. This upgrade could mean more battery life for the Apple Watch, despite the display looking unchanged.
Apple has traditionally maintained similar battery life levels with each new Watch model, except for the Ultra series, which had a longer battery life. It is likely that this trend will continue with the next series, potentially offering similar battery life to the previous model. However, any extra battery life might be allocated towards new features rather than extending the overall life of the device. Rumors suggest that Apple may introduce blood pressure monitoring in the upcoming Series 10, a feature already present in Samsung smartwatches and other wearable devices.
A recent patent, discovered by Patently Apple, indicates that Apple is working on a feature that could potentially help swimmers in danger. The patent describes the Watch as a “digital pool attendant” that can recognize irregular behavior in swimmers and send alert messages to other devices. This feature aligns with Apple’s focus on health-conscious and safety-first approaches in its products. While the existence of a patent does not guarantee the feature’s implementation, it hints at Apple’s continued commitment to improving the Apple Watch’s capabilities.
In addition to battery-extending display technology, the upcoming Apple Watch models are expected to have other upgrades, as reported by MacRumors. One of the most exciting rumored features is blood pressure monitoring, a capability already present in some other smartwatches. Apple may also include sleep apnea detection, a feature currently available on Samsung smartwatches in certain regions. These new health monitoring features could be where Apple decides to allocate the extra battery life of the devices.
The GT man from Bloomberg, Mark Gurman, predicts that the new Apple Watch models will be able to detect episodes of abnormally high blood pressure or hypertension. This indicates that there may be background work going on to continuously monitor these health metrics. Sleep apnea detection, a feature that Samsung has on its smartwatches in specific regions, may also make its way to the upcoming Apple Watch models. With these anticipated new features, the increased battery life on the Apple Watch could be utilized to provide additional benefits to users seeking improved health monitoring capabilities.
