The Apple Watch just celebrated its 10th anniversary last September. Or did it? Apple first introduced the Apple Watch on September 9, 2014, but it was not released until April 24, 2015. While there were some who expected Apple to celebrate a decade of its timepiece with some radical redesign or the addition of some hot new features with the introduction of the latest models last September, the anniversary wasn’t mentioned at all. This suggests that Apple will celebrate 10 years of the Apple Watch this April.
Code found inside the iOS 18.2 beta includes the words “Ten Year Celebration.” The code also mentions something about an activity achievement. Apple could be planning to celebrate the ten years of the Apple Watch by releasing something new for owners of the device to do. Originally, it was presumed that Apple would do something with the timepiece itself like it did when the Apple X was released on November 3, 2017.
The iPhone went through a massive redesign with an edge-to-edge display, the removal of Touch ID, and the addition of Face ID. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, back in August 2023, wrote that a redesigned Apple Watch X would come to the marketplace in 2024 or 2025 with a new magnetic band system that would allow for the use of a larger battery, a thinner design, and a microLED display with a clearer screen and improved colors. The device would be branded the Apple Watch X.
Apple introduced the iPhone X with Face ID and an edge-to-edge OLED display in 2017. | Image credit-Apple
Last April, Apple ended its work on developing microLED displays in-house and when the Apple Watch Series 10 was released in September, it was thinner and had a larger display but there was no new band attachment system and the 2024 timepiece was not branded the Apple Watch X. Having said that, we could see these changes arrive with the Apple Watch X in 2025 although some of the changes Gurman was looking for, such as the reduced thickness of the watch and the larger screen, have already happened.
Another anniversary date on the horizon will take place in June 2025 when Apple Music celebrates its ten-year anniversary. It’s possible that Apple plans to celebrate that anniversary as well. For now, if you’re an Apple Watch owner, be on the lookout for a new health-based activity achievement that could be pushed out in April. These are digital badges that are awarded to Apple Watch users who complete various fitness tasks. This will be Apple’s way of saying, Happy 10th anniversary Apple Watch.”