Apple Watch at a crossroads as screenless wearables gain ground
Apple’s 11-year-old Watch is losing momentum as rivals Whoop, Oura, and Google-backed Fitbit Air push screenless health tracking focused on recovery and sleep. Leadership churn at Apple—retirements and exits across health, hardware, and marketing—amid a push to simplify Health and pursue AI-driven services. Oura’s confidential IPO filing signals competitive pressure, while Apple’s Health app remains cluttered and less actionable. watchOS 27 will be incremental, with heart-rate improvements and AI features drifting into iOS 27 more broadly, and a glucose-monitoring project—once a Jobs-era ambition—still progress-laden. The market is expanding beyond wrists toward glasses and other devices, pressuring Apple to decide whether to lead a screenless, AI-powered health era or risk falling behind.
