In its report Monday which details the first full year of Apple Watch sales, the Wall Street Journal newspaper has revealed a previously unknown tidbit pertaining to a second-generation Apple Watch. According to the publication’s sources, the Apple Watch 2 will feature cellular-network connectivity and a faster processor.
Although the Apple Watch can connect to Wi-Fi networks you have previously joined on your iPhone, the Cupertino company is reportedly aware that its wearable device suffers from limited usefulness because it cannot connect to cellular networks on its own and requires an iPhone for network connectivity if there are no known Wi-Fi networks around.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
If the publication’s sources in the know are to be trusted, then the Apple Watch 2 might come in Wi-Fi-only and Wi-Fi + Cellular editions, like iPads. It’s also possible that Apple won’t make such a distinction and will instead sell one version of the Apple Watch 2.
I’m curious to learn if Apple will implement the traditional Nano-SIM card tray on the Apple Watch 2 or use the new embedded eSIM standard, which the company helped develop, that doesn’t require a physical SIM card at all.
Previous reports asserted that the Apple Watch refresh includes a tiny 2mm-long front-facing camera for making and receiving FaceTime calls on the wrist. The forthcoming device should sport the same square display with unchanged resolution.
Samsung, along with other overseas manufacturers like Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, have reportedly secured component orders for the Apple Watch 2, which one analyst believes could be up to forty percent thinner and debut at Apple’s annual developers conference this summer.
In comparing the first year of the Apple Watch sales to the first full year of the original iPhone, analysts have estimated that at twelve million watch units since its April 24, 2015 debut, Apple’s wearable device has sold twice the six million units of the original iPhone in its first year.
It’s important to keep in mind that such speculative analysis should be taken with a grain of salt because the Cupertino firm does not and will not divulge unit sales for the Apple Watch for competitive reasons.
Image: The innards of the Apple Watch.
Source: The Wall Street Journal