Apple celebrates virtual Pride with two new Apple Watch bands

The traditional pageantry of Pride month may be missing this year, because coronavirus has forced the cancellation of physical parades in cities around the world.
However, you’d better believe the annual celebrations will still be happening in lower-key (perhaps) virtual settings throughout June. To commemorate the festival, Apple has released a pair of new Pride-themed bands for the Apple Watch, sporting the traditional rainbow colours.
The new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Band offers a vertical rainbow design and pairs nicely with a matching watch face. There’s also a new Apple Watch Nike Sport Band with rainbow colourings within the perforations. That design is also reflected by a matching Watch display.
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Both bands are available to buy today, while the matching Pride Watch faces will arrive within the forthcoming watchOS 6.2.5 which was launched by the company today. They’re £49/$49 each. We’re expecting Apple to announce watchOS 7 next month during the virtual WWDC event on June 22, where we’re likely to see a wide range of new features announced.
In a press release, Apple said it’ll be contributing to several LGBTQ+ organisations around the world as part of its ongoing efforts.
The company wrote: “Apple and Nike are proud to support LGBTQ organizations doing vital advocacy and community-building worldwide, including GLSEN, PFLAG, The Trevor Project, Gender Spectrum, The National Center for Transgender Equality, and ILGA World, which brings together more than 1,500 member organizations in more than 150 countries and regions.”
Both of the new bands are the company’s lower priced Sport bands, so it’d be nice to see Apple deck out some of its fancier strap options in rainbows one of these days.
Buy now for £49 at Apple.com
How many bands have you collated for your Apple Watch so far? Is it one for show and one for play? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.