- A new report claims that the next Apple Watch Ultra will feature satellite connectivity
- While not a health feature, the extra connectivity could prove to be life-saving
- It also means we should have a next-generation Apple Watch Ultra by 2025
While Apple won’t have a next-generation Apple Watch Ultra to show off in 2024, that pause in ushering in a new model could be especially worth the wait. Sure, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 now comes in black — and basically looks like Batman’s watch — but for the next generation, it could get a new life-saving feature, according to a new report.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is now reporting that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 – likely to be released in September 2025 – will gain satellite capabilities just like the iPhone, allowing “smartwatch users to send text messages off-the-grid” when no other network, such as cellular or Wi-Fi, is available. -Fi , is available.
This makes perfect sense as the next evolution for the Apple Watch Ultra, which is already built rugged with long battery life and excellent tracking, making it the perfect adventure watch. Suppose you are taking a multi-day hike through an area without cell coverage; If you need to call for help or simply text someone while you’re on the road, this provides the lifeline.
Now, dating back to the iPhone 14, Apple’s annual launches have continued to expand basic satellite connectivity features. Whether you have an iPhone 16, an iPhone 15, or even an 14, you can use satellite connectivity to contact emergency services via Emergency SOS via satellite, seek assistance from roadside assistance companies like AAA, and even iMessage contacts via satellite. In fact, I used the iMessage over satellite functionality when networks went down.
Being able to receive any of these satellite communications directly from your wrist can be a life-saver and even more useful than having it built into an iPhone, especially since you may not always have your iPhone with you. Bloomberg’s report notes that the Apple Watch Ultra achieving this would make it the first mainstream smartwatch with this feature and reduce the need to purchase a standalone satellite communications device from the likes of Garmin.
Considering the Apple Watch Ultra currently, and since its inception, it has come as one model with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity. It would also boost the ‘Pro’ features that come out of the box and better represent its price and status as the best smartwatch on the market.
Apple’s satellite connectivity on the iPhone runs through Globalstar Inc.’s satellites, and the report notes that Apple has continued to expand that partnership, even investing “approximately $1.5 billion in GlobalStar in November of this year to build its infrastructure.” strengthen”. It’s likely then that Apple would use the same satellites if it were to add the functionality to the Apple Watch Ultra.
In the same report, Bloomberg notes that Apple is still working on a next-generation health feature for the Apple Watch. Blood pressure functionality has been rumored for some time and could be available as soon as 2025. The feature is described as being able to “monitor whether Apple Watch users have high blood pressure,” similar to Apple’s approach to sleep apnea detection.
If Apple manages to get this functionality ready, along with satellite connectivity for the Apple Watch Ultra, it could herald a bigger upgrade cycle or at least better entice people already invested in this category. This year, 2024, the Apple Watch Series 10 has thinned the overall construction and stretched the screen, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 was re-released in a new black color option. Yet Apple also pushed health by rolling out sleep apnea detection, but you didn’t need a new Apple Watch to access it.
Both satellite connectivity and a new health feature like blood pressure monitoring would help expand the Apple Watch’s overall functionality, and I for one am excited about the potential arrival of one of the iPhone’s most useful features on its prominent wearable device. .