WWDC is coming, potential new Apple Watch Series 7 redesign, and the AirPods Max/Apple Music lossless débâcle continues.
We're approaching the end of May already, believe it or not. Seriously, where does the time go? I suppose it also helps that there was a lot of stuff that happened in the Apple world this week, so let's just get started.
First off, we're just a few weeks away from WWDC 2021, and we are definitely excited. We already have a lean list of what to expect from this year's WWDC, and I'm personally excited to hopefully see some more improvements to iOS 15 customization. My colleague Luke also has a nice wishlist for watchOS 8, with an interesting focus on more mental health-related features. Hopefully, we won't be disappointed in a few weeks (crossing my fingers), but only time will tell...
Speaking of Apple Watch, the latest big rumors this week come from Jon Prosser, who claims that the Apple Watch Series 7 could have a major new redesign. If these renders are true, then the next Apple Watch may potentially have a new industrial design that matches the flat and square edges of the iPad Pro (2021) and iPad Air, iPhone 12, and even the new iMacs. While some may not like this, I'm all for it, especially if they come out with that gorgeous mint green color (one of my favorite colors) in the render. I mean, the Apple Watch has retained the same design for the past five years — it's getting a little stale, don't you think?
Yes, I'm well aware that a new design most likely means I won't be able to use my large collection of bands that I've acquired over the years, but such is life. I definitely plan to upgrade from my Apple Watch Series 5, especially if Apple adds blood glucose monitoring to the Series 7 as other rumors keep suggesting, but I will probably pass my old Watch to my husband. I mean, if you hand down your old devices down to friends or family, then they can get a nice collection of accessories to go with it, no big deal. I am excited to see a possible new design and color coming, and it only makes sense — everything else has been going with the flat edges, so why not the Apple Watch?
Other major news this week was the fact that Apple announced that Apple Music is getting free lossless, Spatial Audio, and Dolby Atmos upgrades. However, you will need iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 14.6 and macOS 11.4 for the Apple Music improvements, and then we were hit with the fact that AirPods Max won't fully work with the new lossless audio format. Boy, what a roller coaster, right? Honestly, though, I'm not an audiophile, so I'm not too bothered by this news, but it is still a little disappointing. However, I'd argue that most people probably can't tell the difference (I know I most likely can't), and if you were serious about audio quality, you might have a serious rig set up already, with a DAC and all of that other fancy audio equipment.
However, it seems that it may be possible for the AirPods Max to support wireless lossless audio through a possible update in the future, so who knows. It's just kind of a letdown that Apple's super expensive premium Bluetooth headphones don't support lossless audio right away.
Yeah, it's definitely been one heck of a week in terms of Apple stuff, that's for sure. But it's all pretty exciting, to say the least, especially with WWDC coming up. I know that we don't usually get hardware announcements at that time, but who knows? Maybe we can get a surprise.
Either way, it's time to get hyped. I'll be taking a small break next week to celebrate my birthday (yay!), so I'll be back with Editor's Desk on WWDC Eve.
Until next time, folks!
- Christine Romero-Chan
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