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Apple retracts two wrong specs on Titanium Apple Watch weight

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When Apple announced Apple Watch Series 5 lineup at its September media event it caused confusion by advertising the titanium version as being lighter than the stainless steel model, but quoted both models as having the same weight on a tech specs page.

Apple had originally said that the titanium Apple Watch would be 45% lighter than the stainless version. At the same time, it said that titanium Apple Watch would weigh as much as stainless steel — with neither specification right. Apple has since updated the information with the correct weights, and has stricken percentages from marketing materials online.

The 44mm titanium Series 5 model weighs 35.1 grams, with the 44mm model weighing in at 41.7 grams, or roughly 13% lighter than the stainless steel models.

The ceramic Series 5 models weigh in at 39.7 grams for the 40mm model and 46.7 grams for the 44mm model, making them somewhat lighter than the ceramic Series 3 Apple Watches. The 40mm and 44mm Series 5 aluminum Apple Watch models weigh approximately the same as the Series 4 models, at 30.8 and 36.5 grams respectively.

Those who preordered the Apple Watch series 5 can expect it to show up on Friday, September 20, along with the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. Apple has also created a new Apple Watch Studio, giving users the chance to pair their Apple Watch with whatever band they like. Apple Watch Studio is available both at Apple's online store, as well as in retail locations.



18 Comments

macgui 17 Years · 2471 comments

'Tiffany, get my lawyer on the phone! Everybody, this calls for a class action suit, and vilifying press for Apple. I smell money, people!'

AppleExposed 6 Years · 1805 comments

#SpecGate LMFAOOOO!!!!

Tim Cook get fired!! Apple so stupid greedy company!!

robjn 8 Years · 283 comments

You write: “Apple had originally said that the titanium Apple Watch would be 45% lighter.”

This is is incorrect, both at the event and on the webpage they said that “titanium is 45% lighter than steel”.

They did not say the watch was 45% lighter, just that the material “titanium” is lighter.

Very roughly Titanium has about twice the mass of aluminum and about half that of steel.

It’s exceptional quality is NOT being light, it is being strong for it’s weight.

The weight of the titanium watch case falls about half way between the aluminum and steel models.

randomthot2 10 Years · 16 comments

Actually, is there a typo in this article? It lists two weights for the titanium model, both 44mm. It would be more helpful to place the correct info into a chart for comparison.

robjn 8 Years · 283 comments

Apple said on the webpage that titanium is highly sought after for its high strength to weight ratio.

They could have taken advantage of this attribute and made the titanium watch lighter than the aluminum one. Doing so would have involved milling out much more material to give the case much thinner walls.

They apparently did not bother to do this. They just used it as a cosmetic option. If it does not have thinner walls the titanium case has way more strength and mass than necessary. This is a little sad from an engineering point of view and as for marketing; why call attention to the high strength to weight ratio of the material if you are not taking advantage of it?