While recent reports say that the leading American company, "Apple", is preparing to unveil a new surprise, represented by the next generation of its smart watch, "Apple Watch", in conjunction with the announcement of its awaited series of phones, "iPhone 14" (14). iPhone) later this year, perhaps in September, a new question arises as to why Apple designed the screen of its current watch in the form of a rectangle.
Since its launch of the first generation of its digital watch in 2015, which quickly swept the digital watch market (its share is estimated at 37% of the digital watch market), Apple has used the rectangle instead of the circular shape that is common in watch design, so what is the secret to adopting the rectangle instead of the circle ?
Although it has been nearly 7 years since the first launch of the Apple Watch, so far there is no consensus on the secret of Apple's use of the rectangle in the screen of its smart watch.
When it was rumored at the time that Apple was preparing to launch a smartwatch, many assumptions were made. Some thought that because traditional watches were round, and some smartwatches like the Moto 360 were also round, Apple would follow suit; however, that was not the case.
Technical reasons
While many watch manufacturers design their watch screens in the form of a circle, Apple has found that the rectangular shape is technically best suited to the concept of a smart watch, as it is actually a simulation of the design of a smartphone that features a rectangular screen that shows the rectangular icons of applications clearly and effectively.
The rectangular screen is easier to read. Think about it, when you have a circular screen like most smartwatches, most of the edges of the information at the top and bottom of the screen will be cut off.
Since the circle does not have the same width everywhere, the text must either be scaled down or cut out. On the other hand, the square screen has the same width everywhere.
So the text remains easier to read on the Apple Watch, and there would have to be a font size reduction or truncation to accommodate the on-screen text if Apple wanted to use the circle.
Computer example
In answer to a question about why Apple chose the rectangular shape instead of the circle, Nardis Mirandes, founder of the “MIG” company specialized in marketing, says - in an intervention on the Quora site - “The circular shape makes sense in watches. The traditional one whose main purpose is to show the time. 12 digits inside the circumference of the circle, plus two good pointers for a quick glimpse.
He continues, "With the Apple Watch and all other digital watches, time is not the main feature at all. A square or rectangular face is more suitable for displaying more information, especially text and images. Having room to view more things is an advantage when you have a small computer in your wrist."
According to Mirandes, our vision system is closer to a square or a rectangle than to a circle. The shape of the eyes is closer to this shape. The square is also better when you take longer to look at your smartwatch screen as you're staring at it for information, he says.
Whereas in any traditional watch you just need a quick glance to tell the time; Nobody spends more than half a second looking at a traditional watch face. In these conditions, shape is not important for vision.
Apple's curriculum
When smartwatches were first introduced, like Motorola's Moto, they all had the same screen shape, the boring circle.
While there is nothing wrong with that, Apple, as a brand, needed to stand out to attract audiences to its own concept with Apple Watch.
The rectangular design of the watch helped the company create its own identity in the design of the smartwatch. Therefore, the rectangle helped the smartwatch to be in harmony with the iPhone, expressing the unity of identity of Apple's designs.
The iPhone has maintained an iconic rectangular design for a long time. Therefore, since the launch of its smart watch, Apple has aimed for the watch to be a companion device to the iPhone, rather than a substitute for it.