Apple Watch Series 7 might not be too late after all

In recent months, the Apple Watch Series 7 was slated to debut alongside the iPhone 13 line next Tuesday. However, recent production problem reports cast doubts on this timeline. Now, it looks like the smartwatch is back on track to ship later this month.

The news comes from a new investor report from the good and reliable former Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors). In November, Kuo said Series 7 was due to a major overhaul, and in recent weeks, leaked images from series 7 seemed to show a little bigger screen and a flat-edged design reminiscent of the iPhone 12. Last week, Nikkei Asia and Bloomberg both wrote that the new design caused problems with test production, delaying the entry of the watches into mass production as previously planned.

Kuo’s latest report adds a bit more detail. The Series 7 is said to have a more durable display panel that uses a new contact design that required a new production process. It also had to bring in new suppliers, including LG Display, Young Poong and Jabil, to help make OLED production more efficient and cost effective. Kuo says the issues surrounding this panel module have since been resolved by making adjustments through a series of design experiments. As a result, Kuo says he expects mass production of the 7 Series to begin in mid-September and shipments to begin in late September.

This makes it much more likely that we will hear an announcement for Series 7 next week, although it may not be immediately available. This was picked up by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who planned last week that the watch would be announced next week but would be shipped late, or in smaller quantities.

It’s not a Kuo report if we don’t hear a little something about future Apple products, either. This time around, Kuo said he’s optimistic about next year’s Apple Watch because it will include new health features, especially the ability to measure temperature. This dovetails with a recent Wall Street Journal report which argues that Apple is working on a number of advanced health features, including the ability to measure blood pressure and body temperature. The body temperature sensor apparently helps users better understand fertility planning. There are also a ton of other functions that a body temperature sensor could be useful for. Recovery trackers like Whoop and Oura Ring use them to assess sleep quality, while other researchers have investigated whether skin temperature data from wearable devices could potentially help detect Infectious diseases.