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Jony Ive, Director of Design at Apple, left, and Tim Cook, President and CEO, see a new iPhone at Apple's annual product event. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg)
CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple design director Jony Ive unveiled Wednesday a new iPhone, the largest contract of the biggest gadget launch of the year. But a different product is the closest to his heart: the Apple Watch.
Ive, Apple's chief designer, has completely transformed Apple's wearable device into form and function. The Apple Watch Series 4, which Apple also introduced Wednesday as part of its annual product event, is thinner and has new health monitoring features such as the ability to take an electrocardiogram and detect hard falls – and is becoming more independent of the iPhone. This gives it a deeper purpose, in Ive's vision, and sets it apart from other technologies.
"Every bone in my body tells me that it's very important," Ive said in an interview at Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's headquarters after the event. Ive, like the former Apple CEO who was his close friend, talks about Apple innovations fervently. The new watch "will mark a turning point in the understanding and adoption of the product. "
Much of the attention and anticipation surrounding the annual event is in Apple's best-selling device, the iPhone. There is still a new product line this year, bigger and more expensive than before. But the watch, which is not yet four years old, has established itself as an important adjacent company. Apple does not divide its sales, but claims that its device is the best-selling watch in the world.
The growing popularity of the watch, which I've established as the cornerstone of wearable technology, is essential for Apple as the growth of iPhone sales declines. "The creation of Apple was about making technology useful and relevant, in a very personal way. And the watch is without a doubt the most personal product we make, "says Ive, who joined Apple more than 25 years ago and made his mark for the first time with the sweet-colored iMacs of the 1990s.
[Hands on with the iPhone Xs Max, the binge smartphone for our times]
I will not give up how Apple's laptops could sink beyond the watch, although company watchers expect an augmented reality device to be in the works. He suggests that the watch, on the other hand, could evolve in the years to come.
"Clues for the future are those in which you can have great self-confidence, namely that you are personally connected to the network, not your phone," says Ive. Wearing a new watch with a white rubber band, Ive said the gadget helped him reduce his addiction to his phone.
It took time for the watch to gain traction. When it was launched in 2015, the watch was presented in part as a fashion accessory, and Vogue dedicated it. More recent versions have begun to focus on health with new applications and features – measuring heartbeats, encouraging deep breaths, challenging friends with fitness goals.
And then the letters started to flow. People described how the watch saved their lives, by detecting medical abnormalities or allowing them to contact someone in an emergency, such as a car accident. Ive, who stated that he had his own heart problems, said he had read "thousands" of letters and used his watch in case of emergency.
"I'm so zealous about the watch because I see a material difference to people's quality of life and their ability to live," Ive said.
The new 4 series goes even further than the promised health benefits. Apple has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its electrocardiogram function, also known as the ECG or ECG, which Apple has declared to be the first once granted to a direct consumer device.
Ive stated that the digital crown on the side of the watch had to be redesigned to be conductive for a pulse. As a result, the cellular version of the watch has a thin red circle around the crown, instead of the full red dot of the previous watch. The crown is one of two necessary contact points for the ECG function, as well as a heart rate sensor implanted at the back of the watch.
A new heart rate feature is one of the key features of the Apple Watch update. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Nevertheless, the clinical capabilities of smartwatches are involved. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have used an older version of the Apple Watch to detect signs of atrial fibrillation, a major cause of stroke. They found that it was not a reliable method of detection. A year ago, Apple partnered with Stanford University to conduct a study on monitoring irregular heartbeat.
The revamped watch, which starts at $ 399 and is on sale Friday, is less bulky than its predecessor, but its screen is larger. In the last two years, he has become increasingly separate from the iPhone, especially through his own cellular connection. New sensors, faster chips and a more powerful speaker continue to make a standalone device.
The larger screen, which is closer to the edge of the watch, makes the watch easier to use – but I see it as a way to be less stuck to our devices.
"The size of the screen is not so vast that you feel like you fill every minute by browsing what you are browsing, whether it is your social networks or. .. "Ive said. "It meets that functional imperative of being in touch. "
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