The Apple Watch 6 has only been with us for three months, so it'll be a while before another model appears – but when it does it could come with the option of a battery-boosting band that keeps the wearable going for longer between charges.
An Apple patent filing just spotted by Patently Apple shows the tech giant experimenting with watch bands that have batteries embedded inside, adding extra capacity to the rather small battery that comes as part of the wearable itself.
The band would need a special kind of seal and a more rigid structure in order to prevent damage to the batteries inside, as per the patent. However, there would be several battery modules connected together, so the band would still be able to flex around the wrist.
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The patent documentation doesn't tell us very much more about how this band might work or how much extra juice it might provide for the Apple Watch – only that it would be able to power the Apple Watch in addition to its built-in battery.
In our Apple Watch 6 review, we noted that the wearable lasts for around 24 hours between charges, though extra battery life is always welcome – especially if you're wearing the smartwatch overnight to track your sleep.
Features such as the brand new blood oxygen monitor on the latest model, as well as making and taking calls directly from the Apple Watch, are likely to drain the battery fairly rapidly as well, so a battery band would be likely to be a big hit with users.
Apple already makes plenty of official bands for the watch of course, in a variety of colors and materials, but as yet it hasn't experimented too much with adding extra functionality or features through an optional attachment that users can buy separately.
As always with patents like this, it's no guarantee of a finished product ever appearing – it just shows us what Apple is thinking about. It's possible that a band like this could show up before the Apple Watch 7, but we might also be waiting much longer to see it.
