I find it curious how rumors about the Series 7 Apple Watch got to the point where it became generally accepted that the new model would have flat sides, à la the recent iPhones and iPads Pro, Air, and now mini. This would have been a completely new body design for a watch that has not seen a notable one since it debuted in 2015.

The screen on the new Series 7 is indeed larger than the previous Series 6. 20% more screen area, in fact. It must have been speculated that, to accomplish such a feat, a curved edge on the watch just wouldn’t provide enough internal room for more screen. I see this as a misinterpretation on the part of supply chain leakers about what facts they were able to glean from the access they have.

A possible series of events:

  1. It became known that the new Apple Watch would feature a larger screen. Nothing else of substance about this year’s model was learned.
  2. A larger screen may necessarily demand a different watch body.1
  3. This new, incorrect correlation was posted on various social media accounts.
  4. The rumor sites picked this up and, as is their wont to do, this misinformed news became gospel and spread.

We’ve all got a new Series 7 Apple Watch with curved sides. It looks like a neat update. Maybe the flat-sided Apple Watch will come next time. Until then, rumor sites, as they have always been, are best explored with an enormous grain of salt.2

  1. This, clearly, was not the case. You know what they say when you assume something… ↩︎

  2. And maybe, in fact, never, ever believed until the moment Apple themselves actually announce something. ↩︎