Apple Plans to Release Cellular Apple Watch Later This Year [Report]

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Posted August 4, 2017 at 9:40pm by Shalom Levytam

Apple plans to release an Apple Watch with cellular connectivity later this year, according to a Bloomberg report. The new 'Series 3' smartwatch will allegedly be equipped with an LTE chip that will let it perform tasks without an iPhone in range.

Intel Corp. will supply the LTE modems for the new Watch, according to another person familiar with the situation. That’s a big win for the chipmaker, which has been trying for years to get its components into more Apple mobile devices. Qualcomm Inc. has been the main modem supplier for iPhones and other Apple mobile gadgets, but the two companies are embroiled in a bitter legal dispute. Apple added Intel as a modem supplier for some iPhones last year.

Apple is reportedly in talks with carriers in the U.S. and Europe about the cellular version. Initially, only a limited subset of carriers will support the LTE Apple Watch; however, all the major carriers in the United States are set to carry it.

Making the Apple Watch into a standalone device "would be a game changer", says Apple analyst Gene Munster. "If they could deliver an experience that isn’t tethered to an iPhone, it could kick start a new direction for the business."

The new Apple Watch will run watchOS 4 which brings numerous improvements including a proactive Siri watch face, personalized Activity coaching, an entirely new music experience, and more.

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Apple Plans to Release Cellular Apple Watch Later This Year [Report]

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EugeneV - August 5, 2017 at 7:18pm

Dear Apple: Allow maximum talk time 3 min at the time and force a hangup. Then the battery power is almost irrelevant. (but need a standby power to last 24 hr) Phone-calls almost like sms texting: "pls pick me up at the subway at 6pm" "arriving on a flight number KL723" "I'll get the kids" .... who would want to carry a smartphone?

radfan957 - August 5, 2017 at 3:12pm

Get it to do FaceTime calls and I'll buy it.

D4xM4Nx - August 5, 2017 at 9:43am

That's a bad idea, battery wise... if the iPhone's battery gets literally obliterated with LTE/4G, imagine what it'll do to the tiny Apple Watch battery.

komo - August 5, 2017 at 6:14am

Lte with crappy battery to charge it every hour

Great! - August 5, 2017 at 12:45am

And you know this because?

Chip - August 5, 2017 at 12:13am

True now I can have my watch do its own thing great.

EugeneV - August 4, 2017 at 11:44pm

Wow .... now we are talking!....at last perhaps a product from Apple worth buying !!!!!

EgeneV - August 4, 2017 at 11:51pm

Apple please : no email, no music, no apps, ....just sms text and full global phone function in a watch. (...and limit the talk time to 3 minutes...at the time) Perfect !

Edwin - August 4, 2017 at 11:11pm

With the poor quality of sound. Please I used to have one but the Samsung gear is over the green peas!