I've been wearing an Apple Watch daily since Series 0. I went from that to the Series 4 that I still wear: Black Stainless Steel. It's fast, fluid, and there isn't a single scratch. Having said that, I was preparing for a Series 7 and would gift my 4. If this flat design is accurate, I'll pass. I cannot see how sharp corners on this watch would be at all comfortable. It would dig into my wrist.
Where do you see sharp corners??? You might not like the flat design, but the corners shown in this rendering are nicely rounded.
Wearing a watch is a very different use case than holding a phone. A watch is strapped to your wrist for 14 or more hours per day. It interacts with your body, your clothing and your environment more than a phone. I assume Apple thought long and hard about these factors in designing the original Apple Watch. To change the design just for stylistic reasons would be a mistake. Function first, then form in my opinion.
So they thought long and hard, and decided to make the edges look just like iPhone 6/6s? I don't think so, they just wanted to match the iPhone look. I don't think Apple thinks about things as much as we'd like to believe.
Plenty of watches have flat/squared edges (e.g. chamfer edge designs), but this render is a pretty unattractive visualisation. The gorgeous square iPad edges aren't well suited to a device that will be pressed against the skin.
Apple could definitely flatten some of the bulbous design language of the watch, and I think could look quite nice.
I certainly wouldn't upgrade just for the shape or color, but neither would this shape stop me from upgrading for compelling features, such as blood glucose or pressure monitoring. Not that I expect those, they were examples.
Given that I now have a Series 6, it's not likely that I'll upgrade this year anyway.
Comments
Where do you see sharp corners??? You might not like the flat design, but the corners shown in this rendering are nicely rounded.
I have purchased new model every year but would not buy the brick look.
Apple could definitely flatten some of the bulbous design language of the watch, and I think could look quite nice.
Given that I now have a Series 6, it's not likely that I'll upgrade this year anyway.