Apple brings 2026 Pride Edition Watch Band, colourful themes and more

Every year, Apple, as a tribute to LGBTQ+ communities, celebrates Pride Month globally. To mark the event, it has released the new Apple Watch band.

The new 2026 series Pride Edition Sport Loop features a rainbow-like design of 11 colours of nylon yarns. The intricate weaving blends one colour into the next, creating depth and movement across the band. The resulting design is vibrant and showcases a full spectrum of colours, which represent the LGBTQ+ community.

The Pride Edition Sport Loop comes in three sizes-- 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm, and can now be booked on the official Apple online store and in the Apple Store mobile app. Also, it will be available at physical Apple Stores and authorised outlets beginning later this week, for Rs 4,500.

Further, to complement the colourful Watch band, Apple has introduced a watch face 'Pride Luminance' with colours that refract dynamically with time. The watch face comes in two geometric patterns: radial, featuring rays of colour that align with the hour marks, and vertical, reflecting the colourful linear stripes of the weaving pattern.

Also, with this special watch face, users can customise it with even more colour options to create a unique expression of themselves and their communities.

Apple's Pride Luminance UI theme for iPhone and iPad.

Besides the colourful Apple Watch band, the company will bring similar Pride Luminance themes and wallpapers for iPhones and iPads. They will get the new feature with the upcoming watchOS 26.5, iOS 26.5, and iPadOS 26.5, slated for release in a few weeks, most probably by the end of May or early June, ahead of Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC, June 8-12) 2026 in Cupertino.

Speaking of which, Apple is expected to offer a sneak peek at all-new iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS for its products at WWDC 2026.

The new iOS 27 is expected to retain the Liquid Glass user interface, but will be more refined and offer more customisation to improve the user experience on iPhone. Also, we can expect new generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI)-powered Apple Intelligence features.

Similarly, the iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 will offer similar improvements to iPad and Mac computers. One piece of bad news we are hearing in the media is that Apple may end the support of Intel-based MacBooks and iMacs. Only the Apple M-powered PCs will get the macOS 27 update.

The biggest improvement we are expecting in Apple's software platforms is the all-new Siri. It is confirmed to be powered by Google's Gemini AI. It is expected to be the biggest Siri update to date.

Apple's Siri assistant will be able to understand the most complex queries and deliver information in small, simple bytes, which can be easily understood by regular users and children.

Expect new features in watchOS 27 with better body fitness and health tracking, and Apple will be bringing apps and game support for Vision Pro. Even tvOS 27 will get better and promises to deliver an enhanced viewing experience on the big TV screens.

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