Apple is reportedly working on a ‘non-iPhone Apple Watch’

A new Apple Watch might be popping up on our horizon and it’ll have one big advantage over its predecessors: it won’t need an iPhone to work. Bloomberg reports that Apple is reportedly working on a version of its smartwatch that will connect to LTE mobile networks. They have supposedly started talking to providers in the US and Europe to launch this device later this year. And Intel will supposedly be supplying the LTE modems for the new Apple Watch.

If there is some truth to the report, this will help boost Apple’s recent focus on the fitness benefits/credentials of the Apple Watch. Being able to untether the Apple Watch from the iPhone can bring with it the capabilities to let users bring songs with them to listen to when they’re running or are at the gym. Direct connection might even let them reply to messages and calls right from the wearable device. One of the biggest concerns will be battery life, though. With the iPhone augmenting some of the computational strain on the Apple Watch, making the wearable a standalone device would need a better battery.