When it was unveiled last year, the Apple Watch Ultra quickly took its status at the head of Apple's smartwatch line-up. Designed to go toe-to-toe with go-anywhere, do-anything watches like the Garmin Fenix 7, the Ultra built on the success of the Apple Watch series, while adding ruggedness and dependability.
It won a wide range of fans, too. Hikers and divers were the target market, but the Ultra found itself at home with a much wider range of fans, including pop icon, and watch aficionado, John Mayer.
It's not for the feint of heart though – or at least, not for the slim of wrist. The Ultra has a case diameter of 49mm, which is positively gargantuan. For reference, traditional watches tend to range from around 36-44mm. The Apple Watch Series 8 tops out at 45mm.
Now, rumours are suggesting that the Ultra could be set to get even bigger, by around 10%. That's according to MacRumors, who cite Taiwanese publication, DigiTimes, as their source. The report states that a new 2.1-inch (53mm) Apple Watch Ultra model looks set for a 2024 release.
That would make it the largest Apple Watch ever, and larger even than most of the Garmin watches it looks to compete with. The report also suggests that it could be the first Apple Watch to feature a microLED display.
I'm all for new and innovative products, but the suggestion of a larger Apple Watch Ultra seems like an odd one from Apple's perspective. Their entire business model is based around having mass-market appeal – we've seen beloved phones like the iPhone 13 Mini canned for this exact reason.
The current size is already prohibitive, with swathes of people online who want a pro-variant Apple Watch in a regular size. Driving further into the niche without addressing those consumers doesn't seem like the Apple we've come to know.
