Apple Watch Reaches Consumers
Published:
The first Apple Watch went on sale in April 2015. It used Apple’s S1 system-in-package, a small OLED display, heart-rate sensing, accelerometers, haptic feedback, and a Digital Crown for scrolling.
Early applications were heavily dependent on the paired iPhone. Much of the processing and networking happened on the phone, while the watch displayed results. This helped battery life but made some apps slow and limited what the device could do independently.
The product’s strongest long-term direction turned out to be health and fitness rather than tiny versions of ordinary phone apps. Later generations added GPS, cellular connectivity, ECG measurements, fall detection, and more powerful on-device processing.