iPhone 8 release date to see launch of Apple Watch 3 that can connect to the internet

The new Watch will be coming quicker than the last one did

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces the Apple Watch during an Apple special event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 9, 2015 in San Francisco, California (Stephen Lam/Getty Images)

Apple's iPhone 8 release event could also see the launch of the third version of the Apple Watch.

The next generation of the wearable could also be revealed at the launch – likely to take place sometime in mid-September. It will include a range of new features, most prominently an internet radio chip that will allow it to work on its own, without the phone to which earlier versions must be tethered.

There are very few other clear rumours about the upcoming wearable. Some have suggested that it will undergo a significant redesign, though others claim it will look mostly the same; there have been some suggestions that it could include a camera, though it's not clear what that would be used for; it's almost certainly set to receive bumps to the battery and internal speed, both of which could enable new features.

A smaller upgrade would be in line with the difference between the first and second version of the Apple Watch. The first generation came in April 2015; the second one in September 2016, at an event that also featured the last version of the iPhone.

But it would be a quick timescale to launch a new version of the watch. Apple took a year-and-a-half to go between the first and second versions of the Watch, but launching a new one would mean there had been a gap of only a year.

Whatever happens, around the same time we'll certainly see the launch of watchOS 4, the latest version of the software for the Apple Watch. That too brings a range of new features, most prominently further integration with Siri that allows the Watch to understand what its user might want and give it to them.

Those products aren't going to be the last of the year. Apple has said that both the HomePod smart speaker and the beefy iMac Pro will be released in December. But presumably neither will be given their own event, meaning that as usual Apple's September launch will be the last big gathering of the year.