Circular Apple Watch could be in the works, according to new patent

One thing that Wear OS devices have over the Apple Watch is that they’re available in both circular and square shapes, while the Apple Watch is only available in the latter, but a newly published Apple patent suggests that could one day change.

Filed with the USPTO and spotted by Phone Arena, the patent is for an ‘Electronic device having display with curved edges’, but more importantly some of the pictures and descriptions are of a watch.

That’s not all that’s mentioned though, as a pendant, glasses and headphones are also mentioned as possible uses for the tech, so Apple could be looking into a range of smart wearables, and the glasses are particularly notable, as we’ve heard rumors in the past that Apple is working on AR glasses.

Apple has seemingly at least considered a circular watch. Credit: Phone Arena / USPTO

Apple has seemingly at least considered a circular watch. Credit: Phone Arena / USPTO

It could actually happen

Of course, a patent doesn’t mean we’ll see a related product. New ones are published all the time and they often don’t turn into anything, but some do, and this one was originally filed in June 2015, which is after the launch of the original Apple Watch.

That means it can’t just be a design that was abandoned in favor of a square shape, rather it’s seemingly something that Apple was considering even once the Apple Watch’s shape had been finalized.

That still doesn’t mean we’ll get a circular Apple Watch, but it’s possible. Don’t expect to see one any time soon though – the Apple Watch 4 will almost certainly still have corners.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.