New Report Hints Apple Watch 2 May Not Be Announced in March After All

New Report Hints Apple Watch 2 May Not Be Announced in March After All
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The Apple Watch 2 is right around the corner, however according to recent reports it might not arrive as soon as some might want. The report comes from Tech Crunch, who cites Ben Bajarin, an analyst from Creative Strategies. According to the report, the supply chain isn’t even working on a second generation of the Apple Watch.

It appears as though Apple did not place any order for new editions of the Apple Watch in the latter parts of last year, which would be required for the company to be able to deliver the Apple Watch around its March event. Not only that, but app developers have also remained quiet on the issue, meaning that it’s more likely we’ll have to wait until the latter part of this year to see any new watch unveiled from Apple.

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“With the supply chain cuts from the usual suspects of Apple component providers, the timing does seem suspect for a new product given orders would have taken place in the latter part of 2015 if a new product is shipping first half of 2016,” said Bajarin in the report.

“We are observing some interesting new patterns in Apple’s supply chain that are making the waters more murky than before. As with the current edition of the Apple Watch, no one really saw that coming via supply chain so it is possible to not see it. However, the Apple supplier warnings of soft revenue ahead do seem to cause one’s eyebrow to raise when thinking about a new product supposedly shipping in a few months.”

The report directly contradicts one that was released earlier saying that trials have begun for the Apple Watch 2. In fact, the chairman of Quanta said that the Apple Watch 2 may become available by the second quarter of the year.

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Bajarin also noted that the Apple Watch 2 might not be released around the time of the March event, but it could still be announced at that time. Apple has done this plenty of times in the past, including the launch of the original Apple Watch, which was announced at Apple’s September 2014 event, but wasn’t released until April of 2015.

Other reports, however, suggest that the new Apple Watch will be launched in March, but will only feature very minor updates. These reports indicate that the new device will feature a FaceTime camera, but will not really offer too much else.

It’s still expected that Apple will host its March event, but if we don’t see the new Apple Watch it’s not known exactly what we’ll see. Rumors do, however, suggest that the company could launch a smaller version of the iPhone at the event, which may be called the iPhone 5e, and feature a 4-inch screen. The device will be cheaper than other iPhone models, and will offer a full metallic design. It will be dubbed an upgraded version of the iPhone 5s.

It’s also likely that Apple will use the March event as a way to launch the Apple iPad Air 3, which will replace the iPad Air 2 that was released in October of 2014.

It does make some sense that the Apple Watch won’t be launched as a totally new device. The device is currently only going through its first edition, and Apple has been known to completely redesign devices every second release. What that means is that the Apple Watch 3 will be a lot more likely to get a significant redesign. There’s also the fact that the Apple Watch has been selling in the millions since its release, fast becoming the best-selling smartwatch ever released. It’s unlikely Apple wants to rush to change it too much considering this fact.

In fact, the company, according to Juniper research, currently controls over half of the smartwatch market. If sales continue to be as strong as they have been, there’s no reason for the company to upgrade the device any time soon, unless it wants to offer some specific new technology that it thinks will offer users a significantly different experience.

Of course, in reality we don’t know what the Apple Watch upgrade cycle will look like just yet, and it could be totally different from any of its other products.

Learn MoreHere Are the Top Features We Want to See on the Apple Watch 2

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]

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