So Begins the Apple Watch Series 3 Rumor Chain

Tim Hardwick, writing for MacRumors:

On Tuesday, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) claimed the next iteration of the wearable device will be manufactured by Taiwan-based Quanta, which was also responsible for the production of Apple’s first and second-generation smartwatch.

Citing market watchers with knowledge of Quanta’s plans, the paper said improving battery life is the manufacturer’s “main task”, but beside general performance improvements, the device’s other hardware would not see much change. Quanta declined to comment on the report, calling it “market speculation”.

I’ve been testing the Nike Plus Apple Watch, and it gets much better battery life than my original series Apple Watch. With WatchOS 3.1 it can go two days without a charge, even wearing it to sleep. If Series 3 improves battery life even further, it could turn Apple Watch into a “charge once or twice a week” device, which would be nice.

Update: Or even better, perhaps with increased battery life, Apple could give Series 3 an always-on display? That’s still my biggest gripe about Apple Watch.

Tuesday, 3 January 2017