Another year, another Apple Watch (or two)
Apple launched the Apple Watch 13 and Ultra 4 and the company’s “Surprise and Shine” event last week. Both retain their current look and feel but the big news is an upgraded heart rate monitor that is key to the new health sensing system. The new system takes heart rate measurements every five seconds (sixty time more frequently than previous models) and HRV every five minutes. Apple is also adding a “readiness” feature that is common on many other wearables but has previously not been part of the Watch solution.
More interesting – and controversial perhaps – is Apple’s Audio Intelligence. This can identify noises such as doorbells and take actions accordingly, but it also offers a “live rewind” that lets you go back 15 seconds and transcribe what someone just said. While it is not technically recording the audio – rather it is creating a rolling 15 second script of what was said – this is certainly a feature that will add to privacy concerns regarding wearables. The perception may be that glasses video you, and smartwatches now record your every action… that is not good and Apple will need to tread carefully so there is not a tech-lash against the feature.
The Circana Take:
- Apple’s upgrades are solid, but the health-related features feel like catch up, rather than pushing ahead with innovation. In that respect, the latest iteration of the Apple Watch feels very much like a defensive move as wearables market interest has broadened from ecosystem-specific devices (think Samsung vs Apple for smartwatches) to far stronger Smart Band alternatives (think Whoop and Hume) that work across all smartphones and provide superior health tracking.
- The audio intelligence feature is definitely going to be misconstrued by some to believe that the smartwatch is now listening to you. That’s not (quite) the case, but the innovation feels as that it is rubbing up against privacy concerns while not quite pushing into the danger zone.