If there's one company that's known for secrecy, it's Apple. The brand famously goes to extreme lengths to protect future products from leaking (not always successfully, we might add) – and one particularly creative disguise for the then-unannounced Apple Watch has just emerged.
YouTube channel Apple Demo has got hold of an early prototype Apple Watch. But you wouldn't know it to look at it – at first glance, the device looks decidedly like a mobile phone (a retro "dumbphone" that is – we're hardly looking at one of the best camera phones here).
Prototype Apple Watches (38mm and 42mm) with Security Cases side by side. These cases where made to conceal the design of the Apple Watch 1st Generation during transport out of lockdown. Here is the never before seen 38mm version! Gotta love the brick phone design! #appleinternal pic.twitter.com/eo7IUUNVbaJune 12, 2021
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Designed to conceal the design of the original Apple Watch face, a plastic housing transforms the shape of the device so that it resembles a retro phone, complete with (we assume non-working) keys. A second design also resembles an iPod Nano-esque MP3 player.
Good luck strapping either of these to your wrist (Image credit: Apple Demo)
It's extremely rare to see prototype Apple products – the company typically destroys them (secrecy, etc). The box for this particular prototype is labelled 'classified', and instructs the tester to return it to Apple when finished. That went well.
Aside from a few tweaks here and there, the design of the Apple Watch itself has remained largely unchanged over the last six years. But rumours suggest that could all be about to change, with a flat-edged design potentially on the way this year. Who knows, perhaps there are a few prototype Apple Watch 7 models disguised as mobile phones knocking about right now. Check out the best Apple deals if you're in the market for new kit.
Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
