The Apple Watch band on your wrist has fit every model Apple has shipped since the original in 2015. A leaked redesign now points to the year that streak ends.
A Weibo leaker known as Instant Digital says the 2027 Apple Watch, expected to land as the Series 13, moves to a new band attachment system. The reworked connector clears internal room for a larger battery, and the case gets thinner in the process. An earlier Bloomberg report pinned the same overhaul on a move to MicroLED. MacRumors, which relayed the report, treats it as unconfirmed.
The redesign talk isn't new. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg first floated a major overhaul back in August 2023, under the "Apple Watch X" name, and DigiTimes has since described high-end models with eight underside sensors arranged in a ring. A 2027 launch would fit Apple's roughly three-year design cadence for the Watch, pulling the timeline in from an earlier rumor that pointed to 2028.
None of this touches the watch on shelves now. This year's Series 12 reportedly reuses the Series 10 design from 2024, so every band you already own keeps working exactly as it does today. The leak's one useful tip: skip the spare straps until the new connector is real.
