Stepping into the padded vault felt like entering some kind of portal. The sterile white room was lined with jagged, pyramid-shaped foam spires; a cross between a recording studio and some kind of icicle torture chamber straight out of Elsa's castle from the movie Frozen. I glanced down at my phone: no bars. Deep inside Apple's testing labs, I was officially off the grid.
I've been reviewing smartwatches for almost a decade, but I've never once stopped to wonder how connectivity actually works on the Apple Watch. I've seen it seamlessly switch between my phone and Wi-Fi, pay for things without a hint of cellular signal, and map my runs even when I forget my phone at home. I've taken for granted how this invisible web of connections works behind the scenes, and according to Apple, that's very much by design.
From Wi-Fi and GPS to Bluetooth and GNSS, and now 5G and satellite connectivity on the Apple Watch Ultra 3, a constant stream of wireless signals moves in and out of the watch, making it tick. The antennas and hardware have to be seamlessly woven into the very fabric of the device from the earliest design phase -- out of sight and out of mind -- then tested in real-world scenarios to make sure nothing interferes with the signals going in or out (not even your arm).
In opening its lab doors, Apple seemed intent on shedding light on the rigorous testing process that goes into bringing a product like the Apple Watch to market. As the best-selling smartwatch in the world, the company has positioned the Apple Watch as the industry standard, which means every signal has to work exactly as intended. This kind of testing isn't just quality control; it's how Apple pushes the limits of what can fit inside a device this small, especially when competitors like Samsung and Google close in on its features and market share.
After getting a rare peek inside the connectivity testing labs where Apple stress-tests signal performance, I don't think I can ever just wear an Apple Watch without thinking about the carefully choreographed sequence of product design and testing that makes that connectivity possible.
Watch this: New Apple Watches Are Raising Our Blood Pressure With Their New Features 05:22
Testing antenna performance in a radio anechoic chamber
Apple does much of its connectivity testing at dedicated facilities near its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Our tour started at one of these nondescript buildings, normally off-limits to the public, as we shuffled through a maze of black partitions that I imagine were shrouding the hundreds of other tests we weren't allowed to see. We arrived at what appeared to be a bathroom-size padded vault that's lined with blue foam spikes like a slightly menacing sound booth.
Inside the anechoic chamber, Apple tests antenna performance using a Apple Watch Series 11 mounted on a mock arm. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET
This is what Apple calls a radio anechoic chamber: a completely radio-silent environment that blocks outside signals. In the center was an Apple Watch Series 11 on a black arm-shaped mount, mimicking how the human body might interfere with signals. A rotating black antenna ring circled the chamber, measuring how well the watch's own antennas were sending signals across different cellular and Wi-Fi bands. Once sealed, the chamber is designed to remove any outside interference.
... continue reading