Despite general consensus that the Apple Watch has been a flop, Apple appears to be doubling down on its efforts with reports starting to emerge that the company is planning on releasing a new smart band for the existing Apple Watch, along with early speculation on the Apple Watch 2.

The existing Apple Watch is first off the mark with a report from 9to5Mac saying that the watch is about to receive an optional upgrade in the form of a sensor band that will integrate with the Apple Watch over Bluetooth or a port option, with the port option being quicker than Bluetooth.

The bands are said to provide a more accurate reading of health data in comparison to sensors on the bottom of the Apple Watch’s, however the sale of bands that integrate with the Apple Watch’s diagnostic port would allegedly “not be a pleasant user experience” as the port is fully covered by a difficult-to-remove cap on the Apple Watch.

According to other reports, the additional availability of a sensor band is due to a belief by some at Apple that users won’t upgrade their Apple Watch annually in the same way they do their iPhone, not an unreasonable prediction.

On the Apple Watch 2 front, the report suggests that the new incarnation of the less than successful smart wearable is on track for 2016, with the company currently testing internal prototypes that include a FaceTime camera on the front of the device. Previous reports have also noted that the new watch will also include a new Wi-Fi chip to lessen the reliance on a connected iPhone, and longer battery life, which, given some reports from Apple Watch users, should be the first thing Apple needs to fix.

Logical upgrade

Where there’s some contention as to whether a sensor band connected to the diagnostic port could cause issues in terms of users trying to connect them, the addition of a sensor band would appear to be a logical upgrade path for Apple to pursue, particularly given the less than stellar results delivered by the existing sensors on the rear of the watch now.

Whether millions will flock to their local Apple stores to buy it, however, is another matter and it may ultimately come down to price: if it’s priced at <$100 it may well be highly popular, but a band at ~$200 will be balked at by Apple Watch owners who have already handed over good money to buy a watch for which even die-hard Apple fanboys struggle to find a decent use case.

Image credit: 130756145@N06/Flickr/CC by 2.0