Apple Watch remains the most popular intelligent timepiece and although the market for smartwatches might have been declining, the Cupertino tech giant could be working on a smartwatch with a circular design. Evidently, a recent patent application filed by Apple with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) hints that the Cupertino could be working on a circular smartwatch in the foreseen future. The patent titled ”Electronic device having display with curved edges” describes an Apple Watch with a circular display”. It simply indicate that Apple may be exploring a round watch. While the existing Apple Watch comes with a square display, some of the most popular smartwatches in the market have round displays. Samsung Gear S2, Huawei Watch and Motorola Moto 360 all have caught the consumer imagination with their designs and circular displays. Unlike the Moto 360 which has the flat-tyre display, Apple wants to add an array of pixel rows and columns of varying lengths. This would save space and reduces crowding. Apple filed the patent way back in June 2015. During that time Apple also launched the original Apple Watch in the market. It would be therefore not wrong to say that Apple had been working on the idea of a circular smartwatch for years. Apple so far has stuck to the square-shaped smartwatch and even the current-generation Apple Watch Series 2 has the square display, instead of a circular one. “When a huge part of the function is lists, a circle just doesn't make any sense,” Apple design chief Jony Ive told The New Yorker last year. We still don’t know whether a circular smartwatch is on Ive’s agenda or not. It is however, interesting, to see through the filed patent that Apple could be working on a circular smartwatch. Even though Apple still remains the leader (and also the number two watch brand, by revenue, next to Rolex), the market for smarwatches have seen year-on-year (YoY) decline. Worldwide smartwatch sales declined 52 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same last year, according to a report by IDC. Consumers are not interested in smartwatches apparently, as they have been unable to figure out the real use cases. Poor battery life, high prices, compatibility issues and lack of killer apps may have hurt sales and ultimately popularity.
