Apple won the smartwatch war. Now what?

Macworld

It’s been almost 12 years since Apple unveiled its smartwatch to the world, and if you compare that first model to the newest Series 11, you’ll see that a lot has changed. Apple Watch has become slimmer, larger, and packed with more sensors. Even so, Apple continues to update its Watch every year with incremental improvements.

Now, when a new Apple Watch arrives, the reaction is more like, “Is anything new?” In fact, the latest models don’t differ much from one another, and some people are wondering when the next big change to the Apple Watch will come.

The thing is, it might be a long time before we see another radical change coming to the Apple Watch. That doesn’t mean Apple has stopped innovating, but rather that the Apple Watch has matured enough to establish itself as the leading smartwatch maker and one of the top wristwatch makers in the world. And while its Android competitors might think they’re keeping pace, they’re actually very far behind.

A mature platform

When the original Apple Watch launched in 2015, the entire category felt experimental. Apple’s early vision for the product wasn’t even entirely clear. The company talked about communication, fashion, fitness, productivity, apps, and luxury all at the same time during its introductory keynote.

Over time, the usage patterns of Apple Watch buyers revealed what people really wanted. Most users didn’t care about the luxury factor, nor did they want to replace their smartphones entirely. They simply wanted something to do basic things like check notifications and other quick updates without pulling out their phone.

The Apple Watch has a familiar, easy-to-use interface that’s been crafted over a decade of evolution.

Foundry

Apple also discovered that users were most interested in health and fitness features. By the time the Apple Watch Series 2 was released, Apple already had a clearer vision of what the future of the Apple Watch should look like.

The Apple Watch can now take ECGs (Series 4), tr…