Apple Watch Pro may be heftier, come with new programmable button

Apple may be adding a third button onto its rumored Apple Watch Pro according to some last-minute leaks. The leaks don’t show the Apple Watch Pro itself, but rather the third-party cases that will house the upcoming smartwatch.

We suspected that Apple would go with a larger screen size for the Apple Watch Pro, but seeing the leaked cases next to each other gives us a much better sense of scale. The rumored Apple Watch Pro is a good amount larger than its counterparts, which feels like a step away from the Apple design that we’re used to.

Instead, this much larger Apple Watch is likely aimed at the demographic who use bulky smartwatches like those from Garmin. At 49mm, the Apple Watch Pro is giving Garmin a real run for the largest display on a chunky smartwatch, but Garmin still has them beat with 51mm watch faces.

Time for a third button — The leaks from Sonny Dickson show the 49mm case for the Apple Watch Pro compared to both the 45mm and the 41mm versions. There’s an opening on the case’s left side for what we’re expecting to be a new programmable button, as noted by Mark Gurman.

These case leaks are supported by another set of images leaked on Weibo from UnclePan. 91Mobiles also published renders from industry sources where we can even see a bump on the right side of the Apple Watch Pro for the digital crown and the button.

The chunky bump on the right of the Apple Watch Pro looks reminiscent of the latest iPhone’s camera housing. The leaked cases also show that Apple is sticking to its rounded edges, instead of going with flat edges as rumored to match its latest iPhone and iPad offerings.

Of course, these are just leaks. On top of that, they’re leaks about third-party case design. We’re only a day away from seeing the official reveal of the Apple Watch Series 8 and the rumored Apple Watch Pro though, so all we be revealed soon.

Going for Garmin — Apple seems like it’s gunning after some of Garmin’s customer base who want chunky smartwatches to track all their fitness needs. It makes sense, since the larger Apple Watch Pro will likely offer a longer battery life. With a longer battery, the Apple Watch Pro will likely offer better health tracking functions.

But all this does go against Apple’s tried-and-true design of slim, sleek devices that we’ve seen over the years, even if Apple has been growing the size of its iPhones over the years, recently introducing the Max versions and even dropping the mini variant. Now, the only question is if Apple will bring that programmable third button to the other Apple Watch models down the line.