Supply chain expects 2nd-gen Apple Watch in September or October

Apple's supply chain is reportedly expecting the second-generation Apple Watch to debut sometime in September or October, although the company may not be planning a huge launch for its next wearable.

Suppliers are so far seeing "rather conservative" orders for the new model, DigiTimes claimed on Tuesday. The site — which has a mixed record covering Apple hardware — didn't say exactly how many units Apple has in mind, or which suppliers are handling the product.

The launch of the original Watch in April of 2015 was a highly-anticipated event, creating an intense crush on Apple's supply chain as it tried to keep up with demand. For this reason, sales during the first few months were almost exclusively online.

Since then, however, sales may have fallen substantially. IDC estimates suggest that while Apple still controls the smartwatch market, its June-quarter sales fell to 1.6 million this year versus 3.6 million a year ago. Actual sales are unknown, as Apple has chosen not to announce them.

Parts makers haven't been turning much of a profit from the Apple Watch, much less rival smartwatches, according to DigiTimes. It's speculated that the smartwatch market won't drive growth as much as some suppliers had anticipated.

Very little has been rumored about the second-gen Apple Watch. While it will presumably get a faster processor and better battery life, other rumored features — like built-in cellular or GPS — are uncertain.

One report from over a year ago claimed the next Apple Watch will look exactly the same as the first-generation model, though it was said it will sport a larger battery and a new display that improves outdoor visibility.

29 Comments

tht 5594 comments · 23 Years

About 8 years ago

Waiting impatiently for a 2nd gen Watch device. Hoping for cellular, GPS, more storage, faster, been detection technology for turning the display on. The usual incremental changes. Crossing my fingers.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

New iPhone - Yawn
New Watch - Yawn

Come on Apple where are the Mac's? Stop fiddling and get some decent products out. There are people with money to spend if you do a decent job on the upgrades/redesign.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

tht said:

Waiting impatiently for a 2nd gen Watch device. Hoping for cellular, GPS, more storage, faster, been detection technology for turning the display on. The usual incremental changes. Crossing my fingers.

And why do people assume that putting GPS and a Cell modem, and all the other crap they want, in such a small device is a piece of cake, a trivial engineering exercise? Why should a smartwatch be able to replace a smartphone in all functions? How big and heavy are people willing for this thing to be anyway? To me the idea of the smartwatch being an adjunct to a smartphone is the better idea. Let the watch be just smart enough to do the everyday things and let the smartphone do the heavy lifting. Do you really want the Safari browser on a tiny screen? Keep the watch small, stylish, fashionable, and just smart enough.

leavingthebigg 1291 comments · 11 Years

I hope Apple continues to be silent about Apple Watch sales due to not giving competitors noe analysts a confirmed number to manipulate. The silence has not deterred IDC from publishing its guessed at numbers, which many analysts and publications are regurgitating as facts. The silence has caused Samsung to hesitate flooding the market with its watches in a desperate effort to be considered the leader. Also, the silence has caused all Android Wear partners to scale down their rhetoric.

Sure Apple has been and will continue to be dinged by IDC. I am looking forward to IDC announcing it found 1 million Android Wear watches hidden in India similar to how it find millions of white box Android tablets a few years ago. I am also looking forward to IDC reporting Apple Watch market share dropping below 40% while Android Wear market share increases.