The newly unveiled Apple Watch 5 may have a key flaw affecting its new Compass, according to the fine print on the company website.
The potential issue was uncovered on the Apple Watch 5 store page earlier this week, which warns: “Some bands contain magnets and may cause interference with Compass on Apple Watch.”
The warning doesn’t break down which bands may cause the issue or its severity. At the time of publishing Apple had not responded to Trusted Reviews request for clarification. We’ll update this page when we hear back from Apple.
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The news could be a warning sign for hikers and avid tourists excited to take advantage of the new Apple Watch 5’s improved positional tracking.
The Apple Watch 5 was unveiled alongside the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone Pro Max on the 10th of September.
It features a fairly similar design to the Apple Watch 4 but comes with a few key upgrades, including the new Compass sensor.
The biggest of these is the addition of a new variable refresh rate, always-on display. Always-on is a feature seen on numerous competing smartwatches, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2. It does what it says on the tin and makes it so the screen always shows certain data, like the time and date.
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The variable refresh rate tech is a little more interesting. It lets the screen automatically adjust its refresh rate to between 1-60Hz depending on what it is doing. The feature is designed to help the Apple Watch 5 conserve power. According to Apple it’s a key reason the Watch 5 has the same 18 hour battery life as the Apple Watch 4.
The Apple Watch 5 also comes with a new emergency call feature. The feature lets the LTE version of Apple Watch 5 automatically call for help if it detects its wearer is in danger, even when it’s not connected to an iPhone.
Outside of this, the Watch 5 is a very modest hardware refresh on the existing Apple Watch 4. The only notable hardware improvements are that it features a new S5 chipset and upgraded 32GB of local storage.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.