Apple Watch 8 sports a familiar design in a leaked unofficial render

Same again?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

TheApple Watch 8isn’t likely to land until September 2022, but we’re already coming across leaks that detailApple’s next smartwatch – and the latest one takes the form of an unofficial render showing a design that’s very familiar to its predecessor.

This comes via@LeaksApplePro, a source that has been accurate in the past, and apparently there’s only going to be one “noticeable change” in terms of the aesthetics of the wearable: an extra speaker grille on the side of the casing.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with the design of theApple Watch 7, but it seems as though those hoping for a refresh in terms of the looks of the device are going to be disappointed by the updated model that gets pushed out later next year.

Told you it was disappointing.Upon receiving CAD files and images, this will be the only noticeable change in design from the Series 7 to the Series 8.More info soon at @iDropNews pic.twitter.com/GQC40eIwk3November 18, 2021

Changes on the inside

The rendering has been put together from CAD files and images sourced from Apple, apparently, so it’s possible that the final design of theApple Watch8 is going to vary somewhat from the look that you can see in the tweet embedded above.

Another tidbit provided by the same source atiDropNewsis that the Apple Watch 8 is going to come in a light green color, similar to the one available on the iPad Air. You can pick up the Apple Watch 7 in Blue, Midnight, Starlight, Green and Red.

Even if the design is more or less what we’ve seen before, the Apple Watch 8 could bring with it plenty of improvements and tweaks on the inside. Blood glucose monitoring has been rumored for the Apple Watch for a while now, and we could finallyget it in 2022.

Analysis: what has happened to the flat design?

You might remember plenty of reports ahead of the Apple Watch 7 launch about it coming with a strikingly different,flatter design. As it turns out, those predictions weren’t accurate – and it doesn’t look like the flat design will make an appearance next year either.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

So what has happened to it? Of course it’s always possible that the rumors were simply wrong – it happens. But there did seem to bequite a lot of momentumbehind the idea that Apple was weighing up a refresh in terms of the aesthetics of its smartwatch.

It would have made the Apple Watch more like the iPhone and the iPad in terms of its design approach, and Apple will want to ensure that the look of its flagship wearable doesn’t grow stale over time – so a redesign was definitely plausible.

Perhaps the powers-that-be at Apple simply decided that the new look wasn’t an improvement on the old one, or perhaps the company needs more time to refine the manufacturing process before making the switch. Don’t rule it out for 2023.

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

Your next smartwatch could be battery-free – and powered by your skin

I’m a Garmin expert: here are the 3 Garmin watches I think will get big discounts on Black Friday

Smeg Combi Steam Oven review: a multi-functional countertop oven that looks stunning and cooks well