Looking Back on Five Years of Apple Watch
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple Watch launching on April 24, 2015. To mark the occasion, below we reflect on some of the key features added to the Apple Watch over the last five years.
- 2015: The original Apple Watch was quite slow and relied heavily on a paired iPhone, but it laid the foundation for the future of the device. Available in 38mm and 42mm sizes, the original Apple Watch introduced everything from the Digital Crown scroll wheel to Activity rings. The original lineup included the since-discontinued 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, priced up to $17,000.
- 2016: Equipped with a dual-core S2 chip, the Apple Watch Series 2 was up to 50 percent faster than the original Apple Watch. Other new features included a built-in GPS, water resistance up to 50 meters for swimming, and a two times brighter display. Apple also introduced a Series 1 model that was essentially the original Apple Watch with an S2 chip.
- 2017: Series 3 marked a major step forward for the Apple Watch with LTE cellular connectivity on select models, allowing for users to make phone calls, send messages, stream Apple Music, and more without needing an iPhone nearby. Series 3 models also featured an up to 70 percent faster S3 chip, a barometric altimeter for measuring elevation, and a W2 chip that made Wi-Fi up to 85 percent faster and up to 50 percent more power efficient.
- 2018: Series 4 marked the arrival of two major health and safety features in Fall Detection and the ECG app. Apple also increased the casing sizes and shrunk down the bezels around the display, resulting in larger 40mm and 44mm options. And with the 64-bit S4 chip, performance became up to two times faster.
- 2019: Apple Watch Series 5 was a relatively iterative refresh, with new features including an always-on display, a built-in compass, 32GB of internal storage, and international emergency calling on cellular models.
Looking ahead, rumors suggest that Apple Watch Series 6 models will feature sleep tracking, blood oxygen level monitoring, faster performance and Wi-Fi connectivity, further improvements to water resistance, and possibly even a form of Touch ID.
Popular Stories
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect.
There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall.
Design
There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out.
That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook.
Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect.
The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design.
It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information.
Relocated Charging Port
While the Magic Mouse switched from...
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things.
Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works.
iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week.
To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...
Last week, we covered a report claiming that Apple's book-style foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold," as we are provisionally calling it here) will use liquid metal hinges to improve durability and help minimize screen creasing. Today, a Chinese leaker provided more details on the properties of this hinge material that help to clarify why Apple chose it for its first foldable device.
According...
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent.
A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
