The Apple Watch Series 7 formally ditches the hidden diagnostic port

The Apple Watch’s diagnostic port has been a mysterious a part of the wearable lineup since its first mannequin, however the brand new Series 7 formally ditches the six-pin port totally.

Intended for inside use for diagnostics, the port wasn’t formally acknowledged on Apple’s web site or documentation. But the diagnostic port briefly hinted at the opportunity of increasing the Apple Watch with {hardware} equipment.

The most well-known of those was the Reserve Strap, which tried to make use of the port for extending the battery lifetime of the Apple Watch by incorporating further batteries right into a specifically made band that might slot instantly into the diagnostic port. The port truly provided sooner charging than Apple’s personal magnetic cable, too.

Unfortunately, Apple shortly blocked that functionality and Reserve Strap (together with just about each different try at harnessing the port for helpful functions). For the following life span of the Apple Watch, it remained helpful for its meant function: diagnostics for inside Apple use and repairs.

Of course, Apple nonetheless wants a method to do diagnostics on the Apple Watch, and seems to be changing the mysterious port with a good extra mysterious 60.5GHz wi-fi module that pairs with a magnetic dock able to native knowledge switch for inside use. That’s led to some hypothesis that Apple is utilizing the Series 7 as a take a look at mattress for a future portless iPhone that might use comparable expertise to interchange cables for connecting to a pc. But if years of the ineffective diagnostic port have taught us something, it’s that generally there’s no larger that means or utility to be present in proprietary diagnostic instruments.

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