I'm so excited! Apple's AR headset and a new Apple Watch design are coming in 2022

(Image credit: Antonio De Rosa, ADRStudio | ConceptsiPhone))

published 7 December 2021

2022 is going to be a big year for Apple Macs, iPads and of course the iPhone – but in addition to updating its best iPhones, best laptops and best tablets Apple is also going to launch two brand new products next year. The Apple Watch Series 8 will include a brand new model that’s different to the others, and the long-rumoured Apple augmented reality headset will be coming to a face near you soon.

That’s according to well-connected Apple watcher Mark Gurman, as reported by MacRumors. Gurman also claims that the iPad Pro will get a new design with wireless charging, that the 24-inch iMac will get a bigger sibling and that there will be a new Mac Pro with Apple silicon.

That’s all very exciting, but I’m particularly interested in the new Apple Watch and the Apple AR headset. The watch because I’ve got an Apple Watch Series 6 already and I keep scratching and occasionally smashing it, and the AR headset because it’s the future of everything, including the iPhone: Apple reportedly believes that its AR headset, or at least a future version of it, will replace the iPhone in ten years.

Apple and Facebook are fighting for your face

We know that Facebook is utterly terrified of Apple in this market: for all its Metaverse marketing nonsense Facebook doesn’t appear to have a vision for AR/VR that’s much different from Second Life, which was a thing in the early 2000s. According to Gurman, Apple’s AR headset will focus heavily on gaming and some kind of AR/VR FaceTime, and Apple will commission shows specifically for watching with the device.

Apple hasn’t forgotten about more practical concerns, though. The Apple Watch Series 8 is going to get an updated Apple Watch SE, and Apple is also planning a completely new Apple Watch designed specifically for athletes and with a “ruggedized” design that may be more resistant to scratches. That may be the flatter design that was rumoured for the Apple Watch Series 7. If so, I’ll buy one in a heartbeat.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).