Apple Watch 7 for extreme sports? Lol or Wow!

An Apple Watch 7 version is being considered for extreme sports, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has apparently received some inside intel from “people familiar with the matter“, whatever that means.

First up, this is not as crazy an idea as it sounds but, yes, I agree there is an element of craziness involved ;-). Here’s why…

Market Potential

The ‘extreme sports’ or ‘weekend adventurer’ or ‘weekend warrior’ markets are huge. Garmin sells millions of units into that market, for example, the Garmin Fenix 6 is designed for serious multi-day expeditions yet many of the people who buy it are multisport athletes or casual adventurers of one sort or other…they don’t really need what the Fenix 6 offers and the Fenix 6 is overkill for their needs…but, hey they like the looks or like Garmin or whatever. The point here is that a lot of people could perhaps be tempted to buy a more ruggedised Apple Watch.

So. Apple could make money here.

But.

Apple Watch 6 Can already be rugged

The Apple Watch 6 can already be tailored to better suit a more adventurous lifestyle and that’s partly why these reports could simply be pure nonsense. Handily I covered how to turn an Apple Watch into a wannabe Garmin Fenix a few months ago in some detail

An interesting read: Apple Watch 6 for adventures

The Apple Watch already has sufficient sensors and apps to do that part of the adventure. What you need to consider is the ruggedness of the case. If you get the cheaper aluminium case then the screen is DIFFERENT to the steel and titanium case variants where you also get the more rugged sapphire crystal glass (Source: Apple.com ) but those variants add at least 50% to the cost and so you might be better simply buying a screen protector and a more rugged strap. The NOMAD rugged strap works as well as the name implies, I have one and it’s very sturdy. Here…

A simple screen protector is a cheap and good investment and the relatively poor battery life can be compensated for with a charger 😉

• Get the reusable screen protector for: £10/$10/Eu10
• Get the emergency iWalk Apple Watch Portable Charger or Choetech 5000mAh Charger for: £45, Eu47
• Get the Nomad Rugged Strap for: £57.00, Eu63 or direct from Nomad here.
• Try the cool-looking Nomad Sport strap for: £35, $34, Eu42 or direct from Nomad here.

Manufacturer: Nomad Goods

Ruggedness…An Elemnt of truth?

Perhaps the “people familiar with the matter” were referring to Apple seeking to get the titanium/steel models tested to MIL-STD-810G? That would make MUCH more sense.

Something Else

‘People familiar with the matter‘ might also simply be considering making an Apple-branded accessory pack, you could imagine that might include a new strap and perhaps also a rubberised case protector. 3rd parties already make those so, hey, why not Apple. This is a similar approach to that adopted by Garmin with the Edge bike units where they make a rubber cover to ‘convert’ the Edge into a MTB/trail model…the bike computer is identical to that which road bike users buy.

Apple Watch 7 New Case Variant

The Bloomberg report talks about a ‘Casio-like’ case but I’m sorry folks that just isn’t going to happen. Apple will continue to make the standard rectangular case sizes and, at a push, in 2021 or 2022 it might, just might, introduce a round format watch as well. It absolutely will NOT introduce a rugged Casio wannabe. Don’t get me wrong, we might see some other form of Gorilla glass or tougher case materials but I think even that is unlikely as the options I mentioned above already exist today.

Recommended Reading: What’s really going to be in the Apple Watch 7 #Maybe