Apple's 'iWatch' to have two sizes, 8GB storage, multiple material & color options for 2015 launch -

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited September 2014
With Apple design chief Jony Ive reportedly confident of the so-called "iWatch's" chances when pitted against the famous Swiss watchmakers, a new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple will offer its upcoming wearable -- which is unlikely to hit shelves before 2015 -- in at least two sizes with 8 gigabytes of internal storage and a variety of color and material options, including gold

Wearable Device
AppleInsider was first to discover an Apple patent filing describing a watch design with flexible display.


Apple is believed to have readied between two and four options for casing material, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a Thursday morning note to investors, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider. The company might also offer a gold option, matching the color unveiled with the iPhone 5s and expected to make its way to the iPad Air.

On the technical side, Apple will likely equip the iWatch with 8 gigabytes of internal storage and 512 megabytes of built-in memory. Unlike the rest of Apple's product lines, consumers are not expected to be given a choice of capacities.

The supposedly rectangular device is expected to ship in two sizes, one with a 1.3-inch display and another with a 1.5-inch display. Those dimensions match up with numerous previous rumors that had Apple offering both men's and women's variants, though it is unclear whether that is the manner in which they will be marketed.

Finally, echoing previous rumors, Apple is believed to have packed numerous health and fitness sensors -- including a rear-mounted sensor for measuring heart rate -- into the wrist-worn device.

While the iWatch will likely be unveiled at Apple's Sept. 9 event, Kuo believes that "both software and hardware design challenges" will contribute to a mass production delay that could push availability to 2015. AppleInsider will be on hand at next week's event in Cupertino, Calif., and will bring live coverage of Apple's announcements from inside the Flint Center. For up-to-the-minute alerts, be sure to install the official AppleInsider app on your iPhone and iPad.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 78
    and 512 megabytes of built-in memory

    So now what? After displaying the little hand it needs to reload to show the big hand¿

    Seriously, apart from RAM, I wasn't expecting it to have any storage at all. So I was wrong.
  • Reply 2 of 78
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    philboogie wrote: »
    So now what? After displaying the little hand it needs to reload to show the big hand¿

    Seriously, apart from RAM, I wasn't expecting it to have any storage at all. So I was wrong.
    That's assuming Kuo is right. ;) I swear he's as bad as Samsung throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.
  • Reply 3 of 78
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    8GB seem to be alot, so it must have aps installed beside OS and 8GB is alot of App storage. that is its collecting lots of data which can be transferred later via some means like WiFi.

  • Reply 4 of 78
    OMG, if iWatch doesn't have at least 2GB of RAM, I'm not going to touch it.
  • Reply 5 of 78
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RegurgitatedCoprolite View Post



    OMG, if iWatch doesn't have at least 2GB of RAM, I'm not going to touch it.

    3 would be better.  And a quad-core Snapdragon processor with discrete GPU. ;)

  • Reply 6 of 78
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     

    3 would be better.  And a quad-core Snapdragon processor with discrete GPU. ;)


     

    Now, you're talking! 

     

    I was thinking 2GB would be the absolute bare-bones minimum - 4GB would rate a 'meh', and 8GB would be getting close.

  • Reply 7 of 78
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    If they announce on 9/9/14 but don’t ship till 2015 that’s a big problem for me. It reminds me of Microsoft’s tactics of announcing vaporware in order to stifle a competitor’s sales. If they announce on 9/9/14 they better damn well ship within a reasonable period of time (weeks not months).

  • Reply 8 of 78
    More specs but no hardware/software leaks. Smells fishy. Like halibut.

    Yeah 8 GB memory seems like a lot. I can understand the RAM if it is to constantly monitor vitals and such so likely half the RAM will be dedicated to such activities. But it's not like you're going to be running Safari on it. Didn't the first iPad come with 512 RAM?
  • Reply 9 of 78
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    philboogie wrote: »
    So now what? After displaying the little hand it needs to reload to show the big hand¿

    Seriously, apart from RAM, I wasn't expecting it to have any storage at all. So I was wrong.

    1) Every now and this "leak" game seems to mess up NAND capacity because they read the component value does in bits as bytes, so perhaps what they think are 8 GiBytes are actually 8 Gibits, or 1GiByte.

    2) Remember the A7 has 2MiB of RAM on the chip that's separate from the chip with the 1 GiB of RAM? I wonder if that sort of setup could offer speed and power efficiency for a specialized chip for an iWatch.
  • Reply 10 of 78
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,030member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

    If they announce on 9/9/14 but don’t ship till 2015 that’s a big problem for me. It reminds me of Microsoft’s tactics of announcing vaporware in order to stifle a competitor’s sales. If they announce on 9/9/14 they better damn well ship within a reasonable period of time (weeks not months).


    Notably, when Apple enters a new product category for the first time, they have announced considerably before they shipped. Both the iPhone and iPad were previewed months before their respective release dates. Also, the current Mac Pro was pre-announced about six months before it actively started shipping in limited quantities.

     

    An piece of wearable technology would indeed be a foray into a new product category, and it would not be out of character for Apple to preview the product months before it actually ships.

  • Reply 11 of 78
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    I've never bought a first gen product from Apple ever nor intend to begin with this iWatch. It will have to prove itself must-have-worthy within a year to get me interested in buying gen2 which will most likely be thinner, lighter and faster anyways.
  • Reply 12 of 78
    maestro64 wrote: »
    8GB seem to be alot, so it must have aps installed beside OS and 8GB is alot of App storage. that is its collecting lots of data which can be transferred later via some means like WiFi.

    On an iPhone, iOS 8 beta 5 takes 8GB. I suspect the released version will take 6-7GB.

    Certainly, an iWatch will have less hardware to support (no GPS, cell radio, etc.?) smaller buffers, less sophisticated multitasking and device management ...

    I suspect that iOS iWatch will take 3-4GB storage. That leaves 4-5GB for apps and data ... not too bad ... and the iPhone/iPad in your pocket/purse/backpack can be used for supplemental data storage for the iWatch (mail, messages, calendar, HealthKit, etc.).
  • Reply 13 of 78
    pazuzu wrote: »
    I've never bought a first gen product from Apple ever nor intend to begin with this iWatch. It will have to prove itself must-have-worthy within a year to get me interested in buying gen2 which will most likely be thinner, lighter and faster anyways.

    I stood in line on day 1 and bought 2 8BG original iPhones.

    Didn't you buy an original iPhone?
  • Reply 14 of 78
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pazuzu View Post



    I've never bought a first gen product from Apple ever nor intend to begin with this iWatch. It will have to prove itself must-have-worthy within a year to get me interested in buying gen2 which will most likely be thinner, lighter and faster anyways.

    I have, and almost always switched to the next variant when it became available. I didn't get the original AIR (2008) - but did get subsequent ones.

    Sure the gen2 are almost always better - but then you have to wait a year or so. Life is short, enjoy what you can when you can.

  • Reply 15 of 78

    Lots of breaking news today that isn't really breaking.  Or news.  But I hope Kuo is right.

     

    I will find it a bit odd if they announce an updated iPad Air on the same day as the iPhone 6, along with an iWatch.  If they're doing this, there must be something big(ger) planned for October...

  • Reply 16 of 78
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pazuzu View Post



    I've never bought a first gen product from Apple ever nor intend to begin with this iWatch. It will have to prove itself must-have-worthy within a year to get me interested in buying gen2 which will most likely be thinner, lighter and faster anyways.

     

    Then you're going to miss out on a lot of fun. We bought our first iPhone the first day they were available back in June 2007, and not only did our phone operate perfectly for the two plus years we used it (still have it safely tucked away), we had fun being in line with all the other early adopters. The excitement in the air was truly palpable. The only hitch in the whole matter was having to wait for a couple of days for AT&T to get their stuff together so we could use the iPhone. 

     

    Also, I bought my first iPad the day they went on sale. Worked perfectly for two years when we passed it on to our granddaughter and we bought my iPad "3".

  • Reply 17 of 78

    Does anyone else realize that all the Apple news/rumors blogs report on Ming-Chi Kuo when we really have no idea who this person is?

     

    What investment firm does Ming-Ching Kuo work for? Does this company and this person actually exist? For all we know Kuo might be a pseudonym. Do we know what this person looks like? Do we even know if Ming-Chi Kuo is a man or woman (not that it really matters)?

     

    We give so much weight to this analysts predictions and notes when we have no idea of the persons background and qualifications.

  • Reply 18 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RalphMouth View Post

     

    Does anyone else realize that all the Apple news/rumors blogs report on Ming-Chi Kuo when we really have no idea who this person is?

     

    What investment firm does Ming-Ching Kuo work for? Does this company and this person actually exist? For all we know Kuo might be a pseudonym. Do we know what this person looks like? Do we even know if Ming-Chi Kuo is a man or woman (not that it really matters)?

     

    We give so much weight to this analysts predictions and notes when we have no idea of the persons background and qualifications.


     

     KGI Securities...we know as much about him as we do Katy Huberty, Brian White or Gene "Apple TV is coming this year!" Munster.

     

    A simple search could have told you this.

  • Reply 19 of 78
    OMG, if iWatch doesn't have at least 2GB of RAM, I'm not going to touch it.

    Perhaps we aren't support to touch her, but only talk to her. Her being Siri, that is.

    solipsismx wrote: »
    philboogie wrote: »
    So now what? After displaying the little hand it needs to reload to show the big hand¿

    Seriously, apart from RAM, I wasn't expecting it to have any storage at all. So I was wrong.

    1) Every now and this "leak" game seems to mess up NAND capacity because they read the component value does in bits as bytes, so perhaps what they think are 8 GiBytes are actually 8 Gibits, or 1GiByte.

    2) Remember the A7 has 2MiB of RAM on the chip that's separate from the chip with the 1 GiB of RAM? I wonder if that sort of setup could offer speed and power efficiency for a specialized chip for an iWatch.

    Good points, these differences can indeed be screwed up by analysts. Actually an understandable mistake, I mean, how are they supposed to the the difference between b and B without much IT knowledge?

    I'm already having a hard time figuring out what an iWatch will do (yes yes Relic, little hand is for hours, big hand for minutes lol) But somehow I don't think it'll be a truly standalone type of device. I still think it'll work in congruence with an iPhone
  • Reply 20 of 78
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RegurgitatedCoprolite View Post



    OMG, if iWatch doesn't have at least 2GB of RAM, I'm not going to touch it.

    As long as it comes with a USB and Thunderbolt connectivity I'm happy. 

     
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    ... 8 GiBytes are actually 8 Gibits.

    You mean Giblets, right? An iWatch with a reversible USB and 8 Giblets.... Awesome!

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