Apple Is Reportedly Testing a Round Apple Watch Display

Apple’s industrial-design team is reportedly experimenting with a round Apple Watch display, a shape the lineup has never used since the original model launched. That alone would be a significant break from a design language Apple has kept largely intact for a decade, but the round screen is just one piece of a much bigger rethink happening behind the scenes.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is also exploring wearables with no screen at all, built instead around health sensors, fitness tracking, and AI-driven assistance rather than a display you glance at. The idea seems to be less about replacing the current Apple Watch and more about surrounding it with different products aimed at different buyers, including additional premium tiers beyond the existing Ultra and Hermès models, and cheaper options positioned below the current SE.

AI is reportedly a big part of the motivation here, tying into Apple’s next-generation Siri work and a broader overhaul of the Health app that would lean more heavily on AI to interpret and present wellness data. There’s also a competitive angle: the growing popularity of screenless wearables like the Oura Ring appears to have pushed Apple toward the idea that not every health-focused customer wants a screen on their wrist in the first place.

None of this is close to shipping. Reports describe these concepts as still years out, and this fall’s Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are expected to stay iterative, with new chips, minor color updates, and fitness improvements rather than a redesign. A separate rumor points to a more conventional Apple Watch overhaul around 2027, involving a new band-attachment system, which is a distinct project from the round-display experiments described here.

Apple rethinking the Watch from the ground up doesn’t mean a round model is coming next year, or ever. But it does suggest Apple sees the smartwatch category as due for its first real structural shake-up since 2015.