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Apple Watch 2 component leak suggests bigger battery and thinner display

Apple Watch 2 component leak suggests bigger battery and thinner display

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Extra battery juice may be for GPS

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We’re less than one week out from Apple’s annual iPhone announcement, but we’re already seeing details leak out about the other big product on the agenda. The Apple Watch 2, which the company is expected to detail next Wednesday, is said to pack in more battery life and possibly contain a GPS chip. Now, a component leak from electronics shop Byte, posted to YouTube today, seems to suggest these rumors might be true.

The video shows a torn down Apple Watch with a larger 1.35Wh battery, compared with the original 42mm Apple Watch’s 0.94Wh battery. Of course, what we really want to know is the milliampere-hour (mAh) number, but we won’t be able to glean that until we know what voltage the device’s battery is running at. Still, the news bodes well for rumors Apple needs the larger battery capacity to power GPS.

Apple Watch 2 may contain GPS, but will likely not have cellular connectivity

There’s no telling whether adding GPS will hog all of the extra battery capacity, or if the device will see an improvement over the original’s much-criticized single-day lifespan. Notably, Apple won't be adding cellular connectivity to the upcoming watch, according to Bloomberg, because of the strain it would place on the battery. The video also happens to show a thinner display and a new Force Touch gasket. While a thinner display makes sense, it’s unclear what new haptic functions Apple may pack into a second-generation version of Force Touch.