I am constantly bullied on the CoolSmartPhone podcast because I have more money than sense. I spend far too much money on Apple products than I really should do, accept just one current model. I just haven’t felt the need to upgrade to an Apple Watch Series 2 – it looks the same, does essentially the same thing and does not wow at all.
Thankfully the next version may be significantly different if a recent patent is implemented in future versions. Apple are working on slimming the watch down, and may do this by moving the haptic feedback out of the Apple Watch itself and into the watch strap! Apple Insider spotted a patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Band attachment mechanism with haptic response”.
Now take all of this info with more than a pinch of salt. Apple file loads of patents they don’t go on to use, but this would enable an attached band to be responsible for vibration alerting the user to incoming notifications. It was filed in June this year so may show a recent breakthrough in current development. This change in hardware would allow the chassis of the watch to be much slimmer and reduce the components in the watch body.
Apple Watch Patent
The patent describes “a hardware component outside the main casing that is able to move laterally and side to side relative to the watch chassis, with other embodiments able to move up and down or rotate around the axis, in contrast to existing embodiments which are limited to back-and-forth movements”.

The haptic device would be embedded inside areas of the strap such as the buckle or the spring bars. This would no doubt mean the watch would be much slimmer, but also make Apple Watch straps much more expensive. Not to mention all current watch straps would not work with a future version sporting external haptic motors.
Many users have commented on the need for a slimmer version, however if this breaks strap compatibility it may be a bitter sweet upgrade.