Q: Apple announces AweDropping September event – what will it announce?

A: NOT Watch Ultra 3, Watch 11 and Watch SE3.

Apple hints typically at a new product announcement by the name of its September event or the imagery used. Look closely at the image above.

There have been a few tangential product hints from wording and imagery in previous years. Still, I reckon this year we have the distorted Apple image foretelling Apple Glass ie the new interface style we’ve already seen in watchOS 26 and iOS 26 – many of us have been using them both for well over a month. Nothing new here.

Perhaps AweDropping is simply a play on the words AWESOME and JAWDROPPING, and it may also relate to a product DROP. Again, nothing too cryptic here if that’s the case.

I don’t think there’s too much more than that to read into the title this time.

Like every other year, however, the mainstream tech media (and me, I agree) are excited about new products that might arise. We tend to experience a little too much irrational exuberance brought on by a big dose of excitement. However, I think this year will be a good one, perhaps even to rival the year when the Watch Ultra was surprisingly launched.

Here are my thoughts…reveal towards the end, as always.

AI – Siri

Apple is planning and replanning its AI and Siri strategies. It needs to form a more serious alliance with one of the major AI players, like Perplexity. Such an alliance is a prerequisite for Apple to move forward strategically, and Siri likely falls into place intertwined with that AI strategy. There have been a few recent rumours, so maybe September 9th is the date for the announcement?

I’m not convinced. September is about new products, not market-moving partnership announcements.

iPhones

Apple is also refreshing and resetting its phone lineup. Perhaps the jaw-dropping new iPhone will be foldable?

Whatever is announced here with phones will likely be a consequential move, signalling the direction of travel for that product set for the next few years. Readers of this blog are generally not so interested in phones…and neither am I. So let’s move on to what you came here for…Watches!

First…here are the iPhones to expect. #Yawn

• September 2025: iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. No folding one yet.
• Spring 2026: iPhone 17e. 

Apple Watches. Galore?

Most wearable media seem fixated on the Watch 11, SE3, and Ultra 3 – all three simultaneously. I don’t think so. I’d bet against it.

It’s possible, of course, but that’s a lot of watches triggering many upgrade cycles all hitting in September and October. That’s a lot of Watches to physically make! A lot. Really. It’s a lot!

Apple has been rejigging Watch production in India and moving other products to Vietnam. That’s a significant overhaul to the supply chain, a lot of disruption and perhaps enough capacity to properly release three new Watches, but also a lot of risk. There have been a few minor supply chain leaks, but not so many. No one really knows the details outside of Apple.

I think we’ll see the Watch 11 and the Ultra 3 (which I’m planning as my long-term smart wearable, so I’d better be right). However, I don’t think we will ever see a Watch SE3. Instead, we will see a Watch 11e announced in Spring 2026. OK, it’s the same thing but with a different name.

In fact, it will be worse than that for those of you hoping for a new Watch 11.

Sure, there will be a Watch 11, but it will only be for the premium variants this time. Historically, the premium models are stainless steel/titanium versions with LTE and sapphire lenses. Expect those.

This is what we will see.

From a sports and hiking perspective, I expect one new feature over and above what has already been announced with watchOS 26. WatchOS 26 only excited us with, yawn, Workout Buddy. There will be more.

However, the big new feature will definitely not be another yawn. It will be satellite connectivity independent of the iPhone. This has been rumoured, but until recently, I believed those rumours to be mistaken for some connected-satellite workaround using the iPhone. However, as we’ve seen from Google Pixel, the satellite SOS connectivity on a wrist puzzle has been solved. Interestingly, Google solved it with Garmin’s back-end emergency service (Response Center).

Garmin Fenix SATELLITE Technology is feasible – proven today by Google

Anything else?

Yes, apple will also join in with all the other wearable companies and add a new made-up metric. This one will be called Sleep Index, Sleep Score or similar. It will be a composite metric of various factors that aren’t additive, added up to give an arbitrarily arrived at number on a scale that will not equate to anything measurable in the real world. #WelcomeToWearables. All the companies do it, Apple seemed to resist the temptation but sold out when it released its sleep stage analyses to popular demand.

Garmin Body Battery slammed indirectly by Altini: “Made Up Scores”

What is the Big Feature?

You guessed it: Satellite connectivity, and maybe 5G cell connectivity, Wi-Fi 7, and next-gen UWB too if the same chipset supports that. There’s an excellent chance of all or some of that.

Whether Watch 11 gets satellite, I don’t know. Ultra 3 will clearly get satellite connectivity as it needs to compete against Fenix 8 in the outdoor market. However, Watch 11 doesn’t need it, and the feature would only act as an annoying battery drain when mistakenly enabled. That said, Watch 11 could get the 5G connectivity and maybe Wi-Fi 6…or nothing. After all, it has to keep up with Pixel’s capabilities now.

A new AirTag is also expected, and we might see a new Watch capability linked to that with next-gen UWB. This gives precision-finding a longer range. There’s a good chance of that, it’s just glorified Bluetooth in reality, and it’s probably yet another capability of the new connectivity chipset. I researched that a while back, and IIRC, next-gen UWB was possible on the component Apple already used; the company had just not enabled it.

Apple has rarely historically changed multiple internal components in one iteration. So I think the connectivity chip will be it and nothing else. Ie no new optical sensor.

Apple Watch 2025-2028 – Possible changes to release schedules

Other products are expected, like a TV 4K (Gen 4 or TV 8K), AirPods and a new format HomePod – I think all of these, along with the new AirTag mentioned earlier, will come at a separate event slightly later this year.

Apple TV 4K – Fourth-Generation, 2025 – What to expect

Take Out

Mr Cook, can I please have my new Ultra 3 Watch, ASAP?

I’ll be happy, but many other people will be disappointed if there are no cheaper Watches. Do they splash the cash on the premium model or wait a few months? Apple knows that almost all the early adopters will splash the cash. And that’s why it’s a great move.

What do you think, hope for or expect? It has to be JAWSOME after all…I mean AWEDROPPING.