In his most recent Power On newsletter, Apple insider Mark Gurman says the Apple Watch won’t be receiving onboard Apple Intelligence, but it will still get useful features that are powered by AI. While the Apple Watch isn’t receiving a major overhaul, Gurman says it will get some new interface elements and give users a “smaller taste of the big shifts underway at Apple.”
These upcoming changes will be announced in more detail at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). Gurman says the two main subjects of the June event will be Apple Intelligence and something called Solarium, the internal name for a new design language Apple plans to implement for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
“The watch doesn’t currently have Apple Intelligence, and that isn’t exactly changing with the upcoming watchOS 12 software. But the company is branding a new set features as “powered by Apple Intelligence” (even though the device isn’t actually running the AI models directly)” said Gurman.
While none of these features have been confirmed, past rumors suggest notification summaries and similar features will come to the wearables. The long-awaited but still-absent Siri overhaul could also come to the phone through an over the air update.
Gurman also hinted that Apple plans to make hardware changes to the Apple Watch in the “next couple of years,” but didn’t give a more narrow timeframe than that. He suggested AI-enable cameras could come to the Apple Watch (and possibly even Apple AirPods) in that time, following the success of Meta’s glasses.
We don’t have a concrete timeframe for when to expect any of these changes, but Apple has kicked research into overdrive to keep up with its competitors. With that in mind, the iPhone giant will likely give details in June at WWDC with the updates rolling out in the months following.