DisplayMate Technologies has extensively tested the Apple Watch's flexible OLED display and shared the results today based on several categories, including screen reflection, brightness and contrast with ambient light, color gamut with ambient light, and viewing angle variations. Overall, the company found the Apple Watch to have an "excellent smart watch display" with accurate colors and picture quality.
In a side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 6 display, the display calibration company found that Apple has taken measures to ensure that the Apple Watch display has the same colors, color calibration and color accuracy as the larger smartphone screen. The stainless steel and gold Apple Watches with sapphire crystal displays, however, have much higher reflectance in ambient light and mandatory automatic brightness control to preserve battery life.
"Since the Apple Watch is often used right next to the iPhone 6, Apple has gone to considerable lengths to give them the same colors, color calibration, and color accuracy. The two most significant differences (other than size) are the much higher Reflectance of the Apple Watch with a sapphire crystal (8.2 percent compared to 4.6 percent), and the aggressive Brightness control using a mandatory Automatic Brightness Ambient Light Sensor in order to increase the running time on battery for the tiny watch."
The full-length report offers a comprehensive look at the Apple Watch's ion-strengthened and sapphire crystal displays, and reiterates that enhanced sapphire, which lowers the screen reflectance of sapphire to be much lower than glass, will soon be available for use in smartphones, smartwatches and other mobile devices. Additionally, DisplayMate's previous tests of the Samsung Gear 2 and Sony SmartWatch 2 displays provide good comparisons to the Apple Watch.
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues.
The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by Juli Clover
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+.
What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year?
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Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by Juli Clover
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging.
There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
Tuesday December 23, 2025 8:36 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another nine months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models.
The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras
Under-screen Face ID
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Monday December 22, 2025 8:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 26.2, following more than a month of beta testing. It is a big update, with many new features and changes for iPhones.
iOS 26.2 adds a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. Below, we have highlighted a total of eight new features.
Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen
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Samsung kicked off a new end-of-the-year sale this week, introducing great deals on monitors, TVs, Galaxy smartphones, and home appliances. Many of these deals are the exact same all-time low prices we tracked during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep ...
It took me about a day and a half but I am now fully 100% an Apple Watch lover. This thing is just fantastic and as I use it more and more and understand its many functions I am just super pleased. Glad I ordered the Sports too, not too much money and works just fine.
It's a bit like the movie, "Her." Last night when I achieved my activity goal, my Watch dinged me and said, "Congratulations!" and I actually looked at my wrist and said, "Oh, thanks Watch." lol:)
Just don't tell anyone you're in love with your wrist :p
I'm starting to feel like the Sport model might be outshining the Steel model in more aspects now. The aluminum is harder and more scratch resistant, and now we know the screen looks better under the Ion-X glass than under the sapphire.
I'm still happy with the Steel model. Sure its more reflective and can scratch more easily, but I spent the extra $200 for the materials themselves. I've just always wanted a nice quality watch without spending into the $1000s
It took me about a day and a half but I am now fully 100% an Apple Watch lover. This thing is just fantastic and as I use it more and more and understand its many functions I am just super pleased. Glad I ordered the Sports too, not too much money and works just fine.
It's a bit like the movie, "Her." Last night when I achieved my activity goal, my Watch dinged me and said, "Congratulations!" and I actually looked at my wrist and said, "Oh, thanks Watch." lol:)
It's going to be really easy to scratch the glass though. AC+ is necessity with the sport IMO.
Actually, the Ion-X glass will be easier to scratch than sapphire, yes -- but I wouldn't say it would be really easy to scratch the glass.
OK, I get that the Ion-X glass will "scratch easily" for those who get their jollies by scratching their watches with sandpaper... But I'm gonna bet most people won't be doing that.
