With June marking Pride month, you just knew that Apple was going to continue its now long-running tradition of releasing Pride Edition bands for the Apple Watch. Sure enough, it has now thrown the covers off both the Pride Edition Sport Loop and the Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop.
But there’s more than that coming from Cupertino for this year’s Pride; the company has also made available a new Pride watch face, and is launching a new Instagram-based “Shot on iPhone” pride campaign that “captures the essence of artists and figures within the global LGBTQ+ community.”
So, what about those latest Pride Edition bands? The Pride Edition Sport Loop incorporates a color gradient, with the word “pride” woven directly into the band. Apple said that it had used a new technique to remove several of the Sport Loop design’s double-layer nylon-woven textile loops to show the “pride” lettering in a cursive style reminiscent of the original “hello” greeting displayed on the first ever Macintosh back in 1984.
Apple said that the color gradient on the Pride Edition Sport Loop comprises not only the original rainbow colors, but also those of a variety of pride flags – including light blue, pink and white, in acknowledgement of transgender and non-gender-conforming individuals, as well as black and brown, representing the Black and Latinx communities.
Meanwhile, the new Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop “celebrates the full spectrum of the rainbow” and is accompanied by a matching rainbow-colored Nike Bounce face.
The Pride Threads Watch Face, too, is inspired by multiple pride flags, with Apple stating that it “combines colors to represent the strength and mutual support of the LGBTQ+ movement.” It is made up of colorful threads that move when the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown is rotated, the display is tapped, or the wearer raises their wrist.
The new Pride watch face will be available from today, although you will need to have an Apple Watch Series 4 or later running watchOS 8.6, and an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 15.5.
The Pride Edition Sport Loop and Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop are priced at $49 in the United States, and can be ordered from Apple’s own website and via the Apple Store app right now, and at Apple Store physical locations from May 26. Both of the new bands can be used with any Apple Watch.
