Apple

I own one band for my series 5, and one for my ultra. I literally couldn't care less.

What?! I love my watch bands!

Maybe

You’ll all be able to just collect a whole set of new ones.

Apple won’t do that because of their agreement with Hermes unless they change it. Unlikely

I've got better things to worry about

I personally would be; I love my band and hate the new ones

I feel like if they switch to a new magnetic system, they would sell adapters for old bands to be compatible too

I find no reason why they would switch out the watchband connectors that they have patented to something else.. not even changing the two sizes they use.

Apple has released over 700 official bands since 2015. Many people have highly curated collections of bands.

While Apple has a history of getting rid of hardware (connectors, etc) and discontuining other things (leather cases, whatnot) I just can't see them telling everyone that your band collections are obsolete.

$50 “Watch band adapter”?

The long term goal is to make the bands obsolete. An Apple certified device will be inserted under the skin and the watch will adhere to it. This is projected to happen with Apple Watch 30 as there are still a few details that need to be worked out. /s

I couldn’t care less, I use one band until it wears out, replace it and repeat.

I would, but hopefully someone will have devised some type of bridge to allow for retroactive fitting of the old bands.

My band from the first Apple Watch fits my Ultra. I'm happy they've lasted that long and look forward to new strap innovations whether they lose existing compatibility or not.

It’s not gonna happen. I’m gonna get downvoted for this but, Apple is no longer in the business of innovating if it loses them even a tiny amount of revenue. Hence why they wouldn’t put usbc on iphones until they were forced to. It doesn’t matter if the the new watch band connector they’ve been R&Ding is objectively better or not, it would set a precedent for the connector changing and people would stop buying as many watch bands for fear of the connector changing. So yeah I just don’t think they’ll do it, not until there’s a truly radical redesign that leaves no other choice.

Anyhow I’m probably wrong, we’ll see, but this entire rumour set stinks to me. It’s too many big changes at once. When Apple has ideas for changes these days they trickle them out as slowly as they possibly can so that each year they can have at least one. Because they’ve taken the phone and the watch about as far as they can for now.

My S7 can last another year or two. I'll feel less bad about exploring other brands if I can't use the existing bands.

Obviously I will be glad if I won’t be able to use my watch bands

No, after 10 years of band compatibility I think that’s more than enough for an accessory. The Apple Watch innovation can’t be stopped to support the previous bands.