One of the last unanswered questions about the Apple Watch is the question of upgradeability. Andy Faust, writing for WatchAware, argues that upgradeability is both not coming and not necessary.

The battery angle is credible and has some precedent. But the rest of this nonsense — and it is utter nonsense — has been making the rounds ever since the consumer tech world took it upon itself to justify or rationalize the cost of Apple Watch Edition in terms of a market segment that can’t afford it (and for whom the thing isn’t even designed). I can’t think of a single luxury brand that will offer to inexpensively and meaningfully upgrade part of something it sold you just because a new, better version of that something came out. That’s antithetical to how the luxury world operates. Luxury is disposable, and it is funded with disposable income. That is the entire point.

I understand this logic, but it does make me bristle. As if reuse was a quaint and foolish notion.

As for the more affordable versions of Apple Watch, the above reality is largely the same. Why would Apple change its well-established habits — never mind its fundamental guiding principles — to purposefully limit its capacity to generate huge manufactory profit margins? Apple Watch is already extremely complex to assemble, its much-hyped modularity notwithstanding. Does anyone actually believe it would make sound financial sense for Apple to add disassembly and selective component replacement to the equation? Also, why do people have the totally unfounded idea that Apple Watch’s design is finalized for the long term? How long has iPhone ever kept the same form factor? Or iPad? I’ll tell you how long: one upgrade cycle. Two years. That’s it.

I have no inside knowledge here, so Andy might be right about all this. But.

If Apple is going to offer battery replacement for the Apple Watch, might they not offer a way to upgrade the watch module inside to extend the life span of the watch? They could charge a pretty penny for the new module, make enough of a profit to justify the process. At the same time, Apple would deepen customer commitment to the ecosystem, maintain customer loyalty.

Or maybe it’s simply these new rose colored glasses I’m wearing.