Apple Watch Series 8 on your wish list? Maybe buy Series 7 instead, here's why

I wasn't going to buy the Apple Watch Series 7. I  was going to wait for the Apple Watch Series 8, which I was sure would get a whole bunch of new sensors after the Series 7's revamped design. But I've changed my mind, and right now there's a shiny new Apple Watch Series 7 on my wrist.

It's not that I have poor impulse control, although I do. It's because that multiple reports suggest that the Series 8 isn't going to come packing lots of new sensors, and it isn't going to be significantly redesigned either: that's for the rumoured rugged model, which as a sedentary journalist I don't need.

We know new sensors are coming, but they don't appear to be coming this year.

Sensors and sensibility

I use my Apple Watch for two things: health monitoring and notifications. And it seems that the Apple Watch Series 7 isn't lacking any of the sensors that'll be in the Series 8: according to Mark Gurman as reported by AppleInsider, the most imminent new sensor is a body temperature sensor that probably won't make it into the 2022 Apple Watch. Blood pressure monitoring is "at least two to three years away", and glucose monitoring may not appear until nearer 2030.

For me at least, that makes the Apple Watch Series 7 the watch to buy: unlike the Series 8 I can actually have it now, and it is likely to remain the best smartwatch from any manufacturer for most of this year.

The news does leave me with one question, though. If the Series 8 isn't getting new sensors, and it isn't getting a redesign, how is Apple going to differentiate it from the Series 7? We won't know the answer to that one until well into 2022.